Mourinho says Spurs fans cannot expect same Bale from seven years ago

Tottenham Hotspur supervisor Jose Mourinho performed down expectations on ahead Gareth Bale, saying the Welshman can’t be the identical explosive participant who left the Premier League membership to hitch Real Madrid seven years in the past.

The 31-year-old Bale, again at Tottenham on mortgage from the Spanish facet, is increase his health and has performed three video games in all competitions this season, together with Thursday’s 1-0 Europa League defeat by Belgian league leaders Royal Antwerp.

Mourinho stated earlier than that match that Bale was able to “fly”, however the Portuguese was extra measured in his evaluation heading into Sunday’s league recreation in opposition to Brighton & Hove Albion.

“Seven years is a long gap, so which player in the world is the same as he was seven years ago? Sometimes they’re not better or worse, just different players,” Mourinho instructed reporters.

“You look for example to (Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Lionel) Messi and compare them with seven years ago. They play in different areas, different positions.

“They transform their qualities, try to explore their qualities in other responsibilities on the tactical system of their teams. I think it happens with the majority of the players. So for sure he’s a different player.

Mourinho backed Bale to regain his best form with more minutes under his belt.

“Every word I said on Wednesday I believe, because he’s working hard, he’s improving, he doesn’t have one single injury since he recovered from the last one,” Mourinho added.

“He didn’t miss a single minute of any training session. To play 90 minutes is still hard, to play high intensity is still difficult, but he’s improving and hopefully he’ll be back to a better level soon.”