How Mourinho can get the best out of his new talisman

Tottenham manager must adopt flexible approach to encourage Welsh forward to rediscover electrifying form

The lack of sentiment in Madrid at Gareth Bale’s departure and an air of dissatisfaction at his behaviour is something that baffles his former managers. Bale leaves after seven years with 105 goals and 68 assists in 251 games and having won four Champions League titles, two La Ligas, a Copa del Rey, two European Super Cups and three Club World Cups.

But according to Spain’s AS newspaper, his legacy is “a small collection of key goals, a long medical history and more off-field controversies than Madrid would have liked”. The biggest scandal that his former Southampton landlady,

Julia Upson, could ever remember was how Bale and Theo Walcott would leave cups of water on top of the doors of team-mates inside the hotel that the trainees shared.

And the teetotal Bale’s wildest excursion during Wales’s march to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 was a lunchtime trip into Dinard, their French coastal base, for a beefburger, chips and Nutella-flavoured pancake.

“He was never a minute’s problem – I loved watching him,” says Harry Redknapp, who managed Bale across four seasons at Tottenham. “He is probably the best footballer I have managed.”

So how might Spurs succeed where Real seem to feel they have failed and get the best out of Bale?

Previous managers describe a generally low-maintenance player who lives an uncomplicated life, can be stubborn and who is best treated with flexibility. George

Burley, who gave Bale his debut aged 16 at Southampton, is convinced he can recapture his best form. “I am amazed at how things have fallen away – he always had this inner willingness to practise and better himself. He was a fantastic professional and very level headed. I have no doubt he will get back to where he was, once he starts playing regularly.”

Burley’s only real point of disagreement with Bale was that, after one full season with him in the Championship, his development would have been best served by another year before moving to Tottenham or Manchester United. Bale was only 18, but would not be dissuaded and got his move to Spurs.

Redknapp instantly felt that he needed toughening up and there were some early frustrations. “It felt like Gareth would get a little knock pretty much every day in training and be limping off on one leg with the physio running over,” he says. “He would also be messing about with his hair. Eventually,

I told the physio to leave him when he went down unless it was obviously serious.”

Redknapp also found a player who, while not naturally assertive, grew into a leader who could handle his increasingly talismanic status in the team. That was also evident under Chris Coleman, another manager who placed a big emphasis on creating a relaxed and fun environment. Pool, table tennis, darts and Playstation were staples of any Wales training camp and Bale was always at the centre of everything. It is hard to imagine him happier than during Euro 2016 and it was noticeable that, although not the captain, it became a routine that he would spend an hour addressing the media before every game.

Coleman’s style of management has similarities with Burley and Redknapp, as well as Carlo Ancelotti, with whom Bale enjoyed considerable early success at Madrid. Graham Hunter, the Spain-based football journalist, agrees that Bale has generally excelled under managers who let him be who he is.

Although the relationship with Zinedine Zidane obviously did crumble, Hunter also stresses the wider context of Real and how, for some years, Bale had been viewed as an increasingly tradable asset.

That backdrop then became a vicious cycle once it became clear that Bale would not be forced out according to Real’s convenience, such as when Kylian Mbappe was available, or when he dug in over suggestions that too much golf was not conducive to optimum athletic performance on a football pitch.

It all prompts an intriguing question about how Bale will gel with Mourinho, who is hardly renowned for a light touch or sensitivities towards players who might be carrying injuries. Against that, we know that Mourinho has long wanted to sign Bale and that the 31-year-old’s pace and ability to run at teams should be perfectly suited to the counter-attacking philosophy of his best teams.

Redknapp, for one, is in no doubt Bale’s presence ought to be transformative for Mourinho’s Tottenham. “It’s some forward line: Bale, Kane and Son,” he says. “If you can’t be getting up there in the top four with those three, then you’ve got a problem. I am sure we will see some spectacular goals. Tottenham need an injection of something and he’s just the man to give it to them.”