Gareth Bale could return EARLY from injury due to his love for Tottenham, claims Jose Mourinho
JOSE MOURINHO claims Gareth Bale could return early from injury due to his love for Tottenham. The Welsh wonder, 31, sealed a stunning return to Spurs on Saturday – seven years after departing for Real Madrid. Bale has signed on loan for one year in a deal worth £12million. But SunSport exclusively revealed Spurs have […]
JOSE MOURINHO claims Gareth Bale could return early from injury due to his love for Tottenham.
The Welsh wonder, 31, sealed a stunning return to Spurs on Saturday – seven years after departing for Real Madrid.
Bale has signed on loan for one year in a deal worth £12million.
But SunSport exclusively revealed Spurs have the option to extend Bale’s stay for a further year – taking him to the end of his Bernabeu contract.
Unfortunately for the four-time Champions League winner, he returned to his former stomping ground with a knee injury sustained during the international break.
Spurs estimate Bale needs four weeks to return to full fitness, effectively rendering him unavailable until after the next set of international games in mid-October.
However, Mourinho appears eager to thrust Bale into his starting XI as quickly as possible.
The Special One is yet to reveal if he will play his new signing as a right winger or behind Harry Kane as a number 10.
But Mourinho believes Bale’s strong connection to Tottenham could see him fit to play very shortly.
The Portuguese tactician stated: “I don’t know when Gareth can be back.
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“The only thing that I know is that the motivation is high, he is so happy to be with a club of his heart, he is so happy to play for us.
“And when a player has this motivation, many, many times you can shorten the period of recovering and shorten the period of getting fit and ready to play and we want to help him.
“So when he is available to train with the team, we are more than happy to have him and to be back to a level that [is] maybe one of the best players in the world.”
Meanwhile, Bale’s return to north London has cast doubt over the future of Dele Alli.
The English playmaker has been absent from Spurs’ last two match-day squads.
And it is believed Paris Saint-Germain are lining up a loan swoop before deadline day.
Should Dele go, reports claim Tottenham could yet make a shock £30m swoop for Manchester United outcast Jesse Lingard.
However, one man already signed, sealed and delivered is Spanish left-back Sergio Reguilon.
Spurs have paid Real Madrid around £30m for his services.
And although he will not feature in Tuesday’s now-doubtful Carabao Cup clash against Leyton Orient, Reguilon looks set to make his bow against Newcastle on Sunday.
Mourinho added: “He cannot play Tuesday, but I would say that he would be available for us maybe for the end of the week.”