Gareth Bale’s comments about the end of his loan spell at Tottenham Hotspur from Real Madrid have got the north London club’s fans talking and stirring up some strong reactions.
Gareth Bale said: “There’s no distraction for me. I think the main reason I came to Spurs this year was to play football first and foremost. Going into the Euros I wanted to be match-fit. The original plan was to do a season at Spurs and after the Euros still have a year left at Real Madrid. My plan is to go back, that’s as far I have planned.”
Those comments concerned Tottenham fans, some outraged that he had not declared his desire to stick around in north London and some surprised that he would want to return to the difficult situation he was in with Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid. On a smaller scale, Oliver Skipp gave a similarly standard ‘sticking to the current scenario’ response this week on England U21 duty when asked about his future following his successful loan season at Norwich.
Oliver Skipp said: “You’ve just got to look forward and keep pushing and then the rest will take care of itself, really. There’s no point in looking too far ahead. Just look towards these games and then finish off the rest of the season strongly and that’s what I’ll be looking to do, then whatever happens from there happens.”
Drilling a bit deeper, whether it was his intention or not, Bale’s words did also send a message to both Tottenham and Real Madrid. Bale was asked over Zoom during his press conference ahead of Wales’ opening 2022 World Cup qualifier in Belgium whether the speculation over what will happen with his career next season could be a distraction for him and Wales at the Euros in the summer.
