Cristiano Ronaldo came to Manchester United as a teenager and stayed for 6 years. In the first four, there were many moments which made the onlooker realise that this kid had incredible potential. But there were also too many examples of immaturity and bad decision making which frustrated the life out of his team mates. But, in his last two seasons at the club, he totally and utterly ran tings. Of course he had good players around him, but Ronaldo got better week on week to the point where his presence almost guaranteed a win.
If Ferguson rested Ronnie, Manchester United looked flat and the fans looked to the bench for their supersub to come on and change things. Ronaldo invariably obliged. Some great players have plied their trade in The Premier League, but I haven’t seen anyone better than him.
But Tottenham star Gareth Bale’s Premier League trajectory is starting to resemble that of the Manchester United legend. In his first few, formative seasons at the club as a left-fullback, he was dogged by the inconsistency of youth and unwanted records of being on the losing side every time he played.
But, for some time now, Bale has been finding serious consistency for Tottenham. Like Ronaldo, Bale now seems to be improbably improving by the game. Bale is now running tings at Tottenham.
Spurs have an excellent side – possibly their best in Premier League history – but if they want to win things they need a bona fide superstar. A teenwolf type who uses the great foundations of the team as a platform for his extraordinary gifts. Bale is just that. He has evolved from a powerful winger into a match-winner. A game changer. A finisher.
He has toyed with the press when asked if his long term future lies at Tottenham or abroad. Speaking at the end of last year about playing in Spain, Bale said:
“If you said to any young player that you could play for Barcelona or Real would they turn it down? Probably not.
“If a bid was accepted you would obviously have to seriously consider it.”
With Bale in their team Tottenham’s potential is limitless. With a couple more additions they could easily go on to make a serious challenge for the title in the next few years. But they simply must hold on to the Welsh wizard if they have serious ambitions to do so.
