How good is Gareth Bale?

Force
This time last season Bale couldn’t force his way into the Tottenham side. He had moved to Spurs from Southampton as an eighteen year-old for an initial fee of £5 million rising to £10 million. He was regarded as a highly promising player having played forty-five times for the club. He had made his debut at sixteen and was regarded as one of the best left back prospects around.
His career started reasonably well at Tottenham and, indeed, he scored three goals in his first four games for the club. Just before Christmas in his first season however, he picked up an ankle injury that kept him out for the rest of the campaign.
Record
After coming back from injury Bale was in and out of the side and picked up an unwanted record. He managed to play twenty-four Premier League games for Tottenham over two years without ever appearing on the winning side!
He finished last season well and was named as Barclays player of the month for April. Many of his appearances were at left back as a replacement for the injured Assou-Ekotto and although he continually impressed with his ability to get forward, his defensive skills were still open to question.
Answer
The answer to the problem seems to have been to move the Welshman further up the pitch and play him as a left sided midfielder. (Liverpool could possibly take note of that answer in relation to Glen Johnson).
Since Bale scored the August goal of the month, an amazing head high volley into the top corner at Stoke, he hasn’t looked back. His performances have been consistently good and his hat-trick at Inter in the Champions League together with his one man destruction of the same team in the return game at White Hart Lane on Tuesday have turned him into a potential world superstar.
Dribble
Bale runs with the ball at high speeds and beats defenders for fun. He can dribble but tends to use his pace and athleticism to knock the ball into space and beat them that way. His stamina is astonishing and he simply doesn’t stop running. What makes him stand out even more is that he delivers an end product as well. His finishing is good and his crossing, whether floated and deep or whipped across the goal is nearly always spot-on.
Because he has been playing for five seasons it is easy to get carried away and forget just how inexperienced Bale is. He has only made fifty-six Premier League appearances and in his club career, has only played one hundred and thirty-seven games. You can add twenty-seven games for Wales to that figure.
Genius
Anyway, let’s get carried away, the boy is a potential genius!
Harry Redknapp said after Tuesday’s game,
“Maicon is rated as the best right-back in the world and what he’s done to him in the two games is amazing. He can cross, his left foot is great on the run, he can shoot, dribble, head it, he’s got everything.”
Press
The Italian press were also quick to praise Bale.
Turin sports newspaper Tuttosport put Bale’s photograph on its front page under the headline, ‘Frightening Bale, he sweeps away Inter’.
National newspaper La Repubblica said, ‘Nightmare Bale, Inter crashes in the home of Tottenham’.
Best
Redknapp also revealed that Inter director Luis Figo, one of the best players in recent years, approached him after the match.
“He said to me, ‘Bale is just amazing, amazing’.”
That is high praise indeed.
Determined
Bale himself is determined not to get caught up in the hype,
“I’m just trying to keep my feet on the ground, work hard in training and do well in games and enjoy my football,” he stressed. “I’m happy at the moment.”
Transfer
The hype won’t go away as Bale is rapidly making himself into one of football’s most sought after stars. The transfer talk involving the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester City is likely to be deflected away from the likes of Rooney and Fabregas and switched towards this unassuming Welshman.
What Bale did to Maicon and Lucio on Tuesday will have made the whole world take notice. Why couldn’t he be English?!!