Bale says Mourinho played a role in his return

LONDON: Totenham Hotspur forward Gareth Bale is relishing the opportunity to work with manager Jose Mourinho who had unsuccessfully tried to sign the Welshman in the past.

Bale completed a loan move from Spanish champions Real Madrid back to his former club Spurs on Saturday, ending a seven-year stay at the Bernabeu.

Mourinho said he tried to sign Bale when he was in charge of Real from 2010 to 2013. The Wales international was also regularly linked with a move to Manchester United when the Portuguese was in charge at Old Trafford.

“He’s spoken to me about a few positions that he would like me to play and obviously I’m happy with that,” Bale, 31, told BT Sport.

“He was a big reason for me coming back here, he’s a household name and a winner. He’s the perfect fit for Totenham. We need to win trophies and he knows how to do that beter than anyone.

“I know every Totenham fan is desperate for a trophy and we’ll be trying as hard as possible in every competition to do that.”

Bale, who injured his knee playing for Wales this month, is likely be match fit ater the October international break and is excited about the prospect of linking up with Son Heung-min and Harry Kane.

“I haven’t trained since the Wales camp so I need to get on the training pitch,” he said. “Hopefully, I can hit the ground running in my first game, whenever that may be.”

“Harry’s done incredibly well since he burst onto the scene and scored a lot of goals. To play with him and Son is an exciting prospect for all of us. If we’re all pushing in the same direction it could be a very exciting season.”

Meanwhile, Dele Alli’s Totenham future is in doubt ater he was dropped for their Premier League match at Southampton on Sunday as Mourinho claimed he has “too many players”.

Alli was substituted at half-time of Totenham’s defeat against Everton last weekend and was missing from the squad for their Europa League qualifier against Lokomotiv Plovdiv on Thursday.