Online
\nLONDON
\nTottenham have gambled on the homecoming of Gareth Bale as the shot in the arm they badly need to arrest an alarming slide in the 15 months since reaching their first Champions League final.
\nBale alone has more experience than Spurs on European football\u2019s biggest stage.
\nIn his seven years at Real Madrid, the Welshman won four Champions Leagues, scoring in the finals of 2014 and 2018.
\nBut he still never won the adoration he received during his transformation from promising left-back to the world\u2019s most expensive player in his first spell at Tottenham.
\nHe had his first taste of Champions League action in 2010\/11 when Spurs saw off both Milan sides — with Bale scoring a hat-trick against Inter — to reach the quarter-finals where they lost, of course, to Madrid.
\nAfter then being voted player of the year twice in three seasons by his fellow professionals, while Spurs continually failed to qualify for the Champions League, Bale had outgrown his surroundings by the time he left for $110 million in 2013.
\nIn the seven years since, Tottenham have grown in stature to such an extent they can welcome him back to play in a new GBP 1 billion stadium, with Jose Mourinho at the helm and England captain Harry Kane up front.
\nThe problem for Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is that almost all that progress was achieved during Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s five years in charge between 2014 and 2019.
\nDespite limited investment in the squad as Levy concentrated on building the new stadium, the Argentine turned Tottenham into Champions League regulars and then contenders with a remarkable run to the 2019 final, which ended in a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool.
\nYet after a dreadful start to last season and with the feeling Spurs had gone stale due to the lack of change throughout the squad, Pochettino was sacked last November, paving the way for Mourinho\u2019s arrival.
\nResults only marginally improved as Spurs finished sixth in the Premier League to sneak into the Europa League on goal difference.
\nThursday\u2019s trip to Bulgaria to face Lokomotiv Plovdiv in the second qualifying round of the Europa League is a long way from the glory nights in Barcelona, Dortmund and Amsterdam that Spurs enjoyed not so long ago under Pochettino.
\nTottenham opened their new Premier League season last weekend with a 1-0 defeat against Everton — a dreadful display lacking in invention — leaving Levy in little doubt Spurs were badly in need of a lift.
\nHe has earned a reputation as one of football\u2019s most frugal executives and just three months ago warned that Spurs were facing costs of more than GBP 200 million from the coronavirus crisis due to the loss of matchday income, concerts and events, including two NFL matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
\nYet Levy has now reportedly sanctioned a deal to pay half of Bale\u2019s GBP 27 million salary for a year, with Sergio Reguilon also expected to join from Madrid for another GBP 27 million.
\nWhether Bale, now 31, and with a long history of injuries is capable of reviving Tottenham\u2019s fortunes remains to be seen.
\nBut by providing Mourinho with a front three of Bale, Kane and Son Heung-min, Levy is leaving the Portuguese with little excuse for failure as Tottenham chase a top-four spot and their first trophy after a 12-year drought.
\n\u201cA squad is a puzzle and when a new signing completes the puzzle, it is great for the team,\u201d Mourinho said ahead of Bale\u2019s arrival.
\nNow the pressure is on the manager to put the pieces together successfully to get Tottenham back to winning on the field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Online LONDON Tottenham have gambled on the homecoming of Gareth Bale as the shot in the arm they badly need to arrest an alarming slide in the 15 months since reaching their first Champions League final. Bale alone has more experience than Spurs on European football\u2019s biggest stage. In his seven years at Real Madrid, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n