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Twenty-four hours is a long time in soccer. One day after writing about why Manchester United should sign Gareth Bale, it turns out Spurs are going to do it instead.
Fortunately, all the reasons covered yesterday on why it’s a good idea still apply today. Only with knobs on.
Manchester United signing Gareth Bale was a good idea; for the Spurs it’s an absolute no-brainer.
First of all, there is literally no other player in the world from Bale’s position who would join the Spurs right now. That’s the first big additional reason why it makes more sense for Spurs to seize this opportunity than it does for Manchester United.
The second is that, clearly, Tottenham’s need is even greater than United’s.
The Spurs have two-thirds of the top three forwards in place; They are not going to get any better than Heung-Min Son or Harry Kane. Bale completes the first three perfectly. Sure not even Jose Mourinho could make those three forwards boring (he can).
More than that, although Bale’s preferred position these days is cutting from the right of a forward three, he is perfectly capable of taking either the center or left position as well. That could be of particular benefit to the Spurs if their now-years-long struggle to find a backup forward for Kane continues to bear fruit.
Even the financial aspect of the deal – the massive and obvious hurdle – seems to make sense now, given the Real’s utter desperation to get Bale and his golf out of the team. Whether it’s waiving a loan or transfer fee, subsidizing salaries, or a combination of both, the numbers have dropped to a point where even Daniel Levy can’t resist pulling the trigger.
But above all that this deal is funny. It’s exciting. God knows we all need some of that, but especially the Spurs. It’s a club and a squad and a team and a coach that need a lift.
The Spurs’ troubles, and also, obviously, their search for Bale, go back much earlier Sunday’s sad performance against EvertonBut you wonder if those sad 90 minutes have rushed things.
It wasn’t just that the Spurs were almost sarcastically drab and lifeless, although they absolutely were, it’s that these failures were more focused on contrast to their opponents. Here was an Everton team filled with everything the Spurs weren’t: joy, hope, ambition, excitement.
Everton’s three new midfielders impressed. All three would have entered the Spurs midfield. As tough as a Levy businessman was, he would have to be made of stone not to see that and he would want some of that for his stagnant club.
Bale’s glorious return would give the Spurs just that kind of boost. The deal is still expensive, but it doesn’t take too much exaggeration to rationalize the emotional arguments for Bale’s return to business. If Bale succeeds at the Spurs, it could be the difference between keeping the coach or having to make the prohibitively expensive decision to ditch again. It could be the difference between Harry Kane leaving next summer or giving the club one more year. It might even muffle Jose’s groan a bit. The risks are clear, but so are the rewards.
Nor should we forget the apparently probable arrival of left-back Sergio Reguilón with Bale. While it would be more than non-conformist to suggest that it is a more important business than Bale’s return, it is still an important firm.
Not wanting to say too much ‘HOW COULD SPURS ALIGN WITH BALE AND REGUILON’, but in fact it is becoming extremely that, it is a double signature that would transform the Spurs squad from obsolete and short in so many areas to one that suddenly looks ideal for a 3-4-3 formation. It will be fascinating to see if Mourinho follows that path and, more importantly, if he can make it work.
He will have all the pieces even if another forward and central midfielder does not materialize. If we accept that a team needs two players for each position, and the Spurs’ possible match list means yes, then it really is taking shape.
He has six centers for such a system: Eric Dier, Toby Alderweireld, Davinson Sánchez, Juan Foyth, Japhet Tanganga, Ben Davies. Reguilon and Ryan Sessegnon fit well on the left back, as do Matt Doherty and Serge Aurier on the right.
The weakness of the central midfield is less pronounced in this formation, with your Pierre-Emile Hojbjergs, your Moussa Sissokos and your Harry Winkses less exposed thanks to the greater amount of back while Giovani Lo Celso or even, heaven help us, Tanguy Ndombele they have more freedom to create.
With Steven Bergwijn, Lucas Moura, Dele Alli and Erik Lamela all options along with the three first-choice forwards, there suddenly seems to be the makings of another decent Spurs team here. That didn’t seem like the case a few days ago.
Perhaps the only nagging frustration for Spurs fans is that Levy seems to have finally been convinced to take this kind of bet now, almost as a last resort, in support of the manager who obviously coveted for so long rather than, say, when a Young and exciting team under a young and exciting coach had just finished second in the league.
But right now, that’s picky. The Spurs were a club that desperately needed a boost; it’s hard to imagine a better one than this.
Dave tickner
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