A little over 13 years ago, Tottenham Hotspur bid farewell to Gareth Bale for what was then a world record fee of £85.3 million… and in came the infamous Bale 7.
The ‘Bale 7′ was formed by Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela, Roberto Soldado, Paulinho, Nacer Chadli, Étienne Capoue and Vlad Chiricheș, costing a total of £105 million. Eriksen established himself as an elite Premier League operator, while Lamela won the Europa League with Sevilla, while Capoue won it as well with Villarreal.
Many had respectable careers, but Tottenham never gained what they had lost in Bale. But many think pieces will have been written on just how the seven fared during their time in N17.
Today, our focus is on the present, as we look at where Tottenham’s infamous Bale 7 are now:
Roberto Soldado won a tournament as an amateur golfer
The first member of Tottenham’s Bale 7. Soldado was signed from Valencia for around £26 million and arrived with a big reputation as a prolific goalscorer. That never translated to England.
After leaving Tottenham for Villarreal, he spent time in Türkiye with Fenerbahçe and returned to Spain with Granada, before eventually returning to Levante, where he retired aged 38 in 2023.
A recent profile piece in El Español offers an insight into what Soldado’s been up to since, suggesting his life is all about ‘family, Ibiza and golf’. The latter has become a real passion for him, with Soldado even winning a tournament as an amateur. El Español also state Soldado has been playing padel and enjoying sport without being under the same spotlight he was as a top-flight footballer.
Tottenham legend Christian Eriksen is still playing football
Christian Eriksen joined Tottenham for £11 million from Ajax in August 2013 and went on to become the best signing of the group by some distance, establishing himself as one of Mauricio Pochettino‘s most important players.
He left for Inter Milan in January 2020, before shockingly suffering a cardiac arrest on the pitch during Euro 2020. Thankfully, he was successfully resuscitated and fitted with a defibrillator, only for Italian regulations to prevent him from playing in Serie A.
That led him back to England with Brentford for a season, before he joined Manchester United. Eriksen then joined Wolfsburg in 2025 but collapsed again in a recent friendly for Denmark, appearing to clutch his chest when doing so. At the time of writing, he is still in his rehabilitation process and has not yet stepped back out onto the pitch with Wolfsburg.
Paulinho is a sporting director in Brazil
Paulinho was the first instance of Tottenham breaking their transfer record in the summer of 2013, but was probably one of the biggest flops of their recruitment drive.
He lasted just two years before moving to the Chinese Super League, before enjoying something of a renaissance when joining Barcelona a few years later. He was a key player as they won a domestic double. A return to China followed, ahead of a homecoming to Corinthians where he eventually retired, with a brief spell in Saudi Arabia sandwiched in between.
Paulinho has been retired since 2024 and was appointed as Mirassol’s director of football. In his time there, the club has enjoyed an impressive rise, getting promoted and qualifying for the 2026 Copa Libertadores.
Nacer Chadli is a coach in Belgium
Nacer Chadli’s Tottenham spell was respectable, with 15 goals and nearly a century of appearances across a three-year spell.
He joined West Brom in 2016, ahead of moves to Monaco, Anderlecht, Istanbul Başakşehir and Westerlo. He returned to Standard Liège in 2025, a club where he’d spent a good portion of his youth career, but retired after only 10 games.
Upon retirement, he was steadfast in knowing he wanted to remain in the game and move into coaching. Liège was a perfect fit, with his family there, and today he’s in the dugout as an assistant for the U18 side.
Étienne Capoue is playing basketball
Étienne Capoue joined Tottenham for £9.3 million from Toulouse, but like many of the Bale 7, he didn’t last all that long at the club and moved on two years later.
Still, he enjoyed a solid career post Spurs, making over 100 appearances for both Watford and Villarreal and even bookending his career with a Europa League triumph with the Spanish side.
His life post-football has seen some interesting chapters, not least joining a fourth-division basketball side in CB Jovens L’Eliana. There is even evidence he played for them relatively recently, with scoutbasketball suggesting he played eight games in 2025/26 for them, averaging 8.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.9 assists.
Vlad Chiricheș is getting ready for the next stage
Romanian centre back, Vlad Chiricheș, was a record Romanian sale of E8.5 million when he joined Tottenham in 2013. But, like much of the Bale 7, his time in North London was short-lived.
After two years, he departed for Napoli and spent time at Sassuolo and Cremonese, before ending his time in Italy with a return to FCSB – formerly known as Steaua București – almost 10 years after he’d left them to join Spurs. He left them this summer and now appears to be making the transition into coaching.
As of July, Romanian press suggested that he had travelled to Italy to take his UEFA B coaching course.
Tottenham fan favourite Erik Lamela is… a kit man?!
Erik Lamela was always something of an enigma at Spurs. One day, he could be a world beater. The next? Not so much.
Arriving for Roma for £25.8 million, he was the second most expensive signing of the group behind Soldado, bringing with it big expectations. He never really met them, but did establish himself as something of a cult hero and won the 2021 Puskás Award for ‘that’ goal at the Emirates.
Leaving Spurs, Lamela went to Sevilla in a swap deal for Bryan Gil and won the Europa League during his time there. He wrapped up his career with AEK Athens before returning to Sevilla to join Matias Almeyda’s coaching staff. He followed Almeyda to CF Monterrey, where he’s been registered as… a kit man.
That doesn’t mean Lamela is actually responsible for the kits. In fact, it’s his new club making the most of a legal loophole as he does not yet have the coaching qualifications he needs to be registered under Liga MX statutes. That’s something he’s working on now.