Gareth Bale is going back to Real Madrid. He was always here for a year-long loan and the plan is to get the best out of him in the time remaining. That’s the polite version to the press. The reality is that this has been a truly horrible fairytale, and I note that some fans have been questioning the lack of playing time afforded to the Welshman.
The bottom line here are that fans know far, far less than the coaches ever do. I’m not here to tell you that you’re wrong, rather to act as an arbiter of common sense and rational thought. Mourinho told you all in the All or Nothing show that Dele Alli wasn’t training effectively. Mourinho also told you that no player is ever as fit as they were 7 years ago. Yet, voices of dissent, encourage by less than desirable results continue to make suggestions that are based on emotion, opposed to reality.
Bale is 31 and frequently injured or unable to play at his peak, we knew this before he arrived. With Dele Alli, the conclusion embraced so swiftly is that there is something personal between the two, and that Portuguese is just being mean. Quote frankly this is an embarrassing low brow approach and one that deserves not to be indulged in this place, thanks very much.
Given the situation at Tottenham, a new coach with just one summer window under his belt, and so many players that still need to be replaced, there simply is no time to persevere with a character like Dele Alli, at 24, if he was going to fly, it would have happened by now – ideally under Pochettino – and that didn’t happen either.
Gareth Bale was perhaps nobody’s fault. On paper a return looked irresistible, yet one has to ask Daniel Levy what was in his mind in respect of the ongoing impact of a global pandemic, when committing to a signing that would cost a million pounds a month and the need to sell a tonne of merchandise.
The logical pathways out of this are obvious; Dele Alli has to be removed from Hotspur Way. Ideally sold, but if not loaned in order to free up at least his squad salary. The best probable outcome for Bale is precisely as José has outlined, which is to use him as when he is physically available.
Attempting to somehow construct another tiresome attack on Mourinho, incorporating these two failures is disingenuous. If Dele Alli was serious, or Gareth Bale had more to give, I am sure that Mourinho would would embrace their endeavours.