Gareth Bale’s agent appears to hint Mourinho is outdated with Julius Caesar comment

Garth Bale’s outspoken agent, Jonathan Barnett, has insisted that the Welshman is still a world-class player and that he should have been handed a run of games in the Tottenham side earlier in the season.

Bale struggled to have much of an impact on matches when opportunities did come his way in the first half of the campaign.

However, over the past few months, the Welshman has demonstrated that he still has the quality to make a difference in the final third.

The on-loan Real Madrid man has notched up 14 goals in all competitions so far this season and boasts of the best minutes-to-goals ratio of any player in the Premier League.

However, that is not to say that it has all been smooth sailing for Bale over the past few months as the forward found himself struggling for game time during Mourinho’s final weeks in charge.

Barnett insisted that Spurs would have got more out of the Wales international had they treated him as one of the best players in the world instead of burdening him with too many instructions.

He told The Associated Press’ Neil Baker: “As I said to Spurs at the beginning: ‘if you give him a run, put your trust in him, let him play his own game, not tell him he’s got to do this and that, treat him like a [Lionel] Messi or a [Cristiano] Ronaldo – I’m not saying he’s as good – and you’ll see’.

“It’s been proven that every time he’s been left like that, he’s gone and scored a lot goals. He’s world-class.

“So that was the biggest mistake – I’m not going to blame anybody.”

When asked if would blame Mourinho, Barnett replied: “Well, I wouldn’t do that. He’s a very successful coach.

“But Julius Caesar was also very good, but I don’t think he would be very good with the armies now.”

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Reading between the lines, it sounds Barnett is suggesting that Mourinho burdened Bale with too many defensive responsibilities rather than allowing the Welshman to express himself in the final third.

However, I do sympathise a little with Jose as there is no room for passengers in modern football. Teams need to defend in a block these days and having one or two players not tracking back could leave a team completely exposed.

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