Gareth Bale Returns from Injury, Should Antonio Conte Consider Securing Permanent Return for the Tottenham Legend?

The season had begun so well, albeit the three consecutive wins hadn’t exactly set the world alight, but now with Nuno Santo out of the picture, there is every chance that Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy finally has the man he wanted in the first place, Antonio Conte.

The Italian had been in the picture to take over from Jose Mourinho, but a deal could not be struck; hence the appointment of the former Wolves boss (a choice that Tottenham fans, on the whole, were not all that ecstatic about), and the former Chelsea and Juventus manager may now be thinking of who he wants to bring in to help the club’s cause in January.

Could one name in the running be Gareth Bale? The Welsh international clearly still retains hero status at the North London club and proved relatively effective during his loan spell at the club last season. While the chance of the Real Madrid man guiding Tottenham to a Premier League title may resemble the kind of gamble you might find among UK casino reviews, there’s no doubt he has the ability to make an impact (if he stays clear of injuries).

The 32-year-old still has 18 months to run on his current Bernabeu deal, said to be worth around £600,000-a-week, and while that’s a hefty deal, he clearly wouldn’t cost much to take off Carlo Ancelotti’s hands.

Bale has missed much of the current campaign but came back to win his 100th national team cap in the recent Wales 5-1 thrashing of Belarus, and arguably a lot of his recent injury issues have been minor. Ancelotti has no use for the aging winger, but at Tottenham, he’d not only be a marketing dream he’d also be a handy go-to option.

Last season he played just 19 starts, with a further 15 appearances from the bench, and still managed to bag 16 goals which is quite a return. Spurs struggled for goals under Santo, and Conte’s first game in charge ended in a limp 0-0 draw with Everton, so there are issues there that Bale could help alleviate.

Frankly, if Kane or Heung-Min Son aren’t firing, then Tottenham doesn’t have anything to offer in the final third. There has been much talk of trying to bring in young Fiorentina forward Dusan Vlahovic, but the price tag on the 21-year-old is somewhat inflated. Some reports suggest he could cost as much as £80m, and that’s a steep fee for a player who has a season and a half of proven quality.

Conte will have his ideas of how to make Tottenham a side that can break back into the top four, and there are many areas of the pitch to address. At the back, there are consistency issues, and in the heart of the midfield, there’s a distinct lack of creativity, but the attacking problems may well top the Italian’s lists of fixes to address.

Tottenham have scored just nine goals in eleven Premier League matches this season, and only Championship-bound Norwich City have scored fewer, and that says it all.