Darren Bent has revealed that Gareth Bale really did not stand out during his time at Tottenham and admitted that he was in awe of the player that the Welshman had become when he came up against Spurs a couple of years later.
Bale was signed as a left-back from Cardiff City in 2007 (the same transfer window as Bent) and he did not have the best of starts to his Tottenham career, dealing with several injuries in his first couple of years at the club.
In fact, Tottenham were winless in his first 24 games for the club (over three seasons), which led some to suggest that he was cursed (ITV).
However, once Harry Redknapp moved him to the left wing in the 2009-10 season, Bale never looked back and developed into one of the best players in the Premier League over the next few years, before signing for Real Madrid for what was then a world-record transfer fee.
While Bent acknowledged that his former teammate undoubtedly became one of the best in the world, he admitted that he was not too impressed by the wide-man when he first arrived at Spurs.
The former Tottenham man said on Filthy Fellas: “Bale, when I played with Bale he wasn’t the Bale that we know. He was a left-back, quite small, he almost got sent to Forest on loan and he didn’t play like we know Bale can. We think about Bale now and he’s one of the best ever.”
When asked if he could see his potential, Bent responded: “Not really no, he had a nice left foot, but he almost got sent on loan and Harry Redknapp was not having him, and then I left and played against them and he came out of the tunnel and I thought, what has he been doing here? Then he turned into one of the best players I’ve ever seen.”
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Bale’s potential was clear to see right from his first appearance for the Spurs as he evidently had a wand of a left foot and was an amazing athlete.
However, no one would have predicted that the Welshman would end up becoming as good as he did. His development from 2009 to 2013 was quite unbelievable he was just on a different level to every other Premier League player in his final season at Spurs under Andre Vilas-Boas.
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