Ange may have found the club’s next Bale in “frightening” Spurs star

They might not have had the trophies to show for it, but Tottenham Hotspur have been blessed with some incredible players over the last decade and a half.

For example, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min were arguably the best strike partnership in the Premier League for large parts of the late 2010s, while the likes of Mousa Dembélé and Toby Alderweireld helped to make Mauricio Pochettino’s greatest team an absolute nightmare for opposition attackers.

However, in going back even further, you come to the utterly sensational Gareth Bale, who, in his pomp, had a claim to being the most dangerous attacker in the country.

The Welsh icon was a goalscoring force of nature for the Lilywhites, and in some ways, Ange Postecoglou might have his own version in the squad today.

Bale’s Spurs career

Tottenham completed the £10m signing of Southampton’s 17-year-old Bale in May 2007, and while he was a highly-rated youngster tipped for greatness at the time, it took a while for that to happen in North London.

For example, early on in his Spurs career, the Cardiff-born dynamo suffered a ligament injury in his ankle, and when he returned to the fold around eight months later, nothing went right for him.

In fact, the then-full-back famously didn’t win his first game with the Lilywhites until the 25th attempt, and it became such a talking point that Sir Alex Ferguson reportedly told Harry Redknapp to drop him from the team because he was a bad-luck charm.

The Englishman didn’t listen to the Manchester United boss, and on top of sticking by the young talent, he opted to move him up the pitch from left-back to left midfield and left-wing part way through the 09/10 campaign, which, as we all know today, was an inspired decision.