‘Managing his evolution’ – Mourinho opens up on Gareth Bale situation at Spurs

Jose Mourinho has insisted that Gareth Bale has not got anything to prove to him at Tottenham, merely stating that it is a matter of increasing his minutes on the pitch.

Bale has enjoyed back-to-back promising displays in a Lilywhite shirt, first running the show against Wolfsberger in the Europa League and then changing the match against West Ham United.

The Welshman scored one and assisted another in Europe, before setting up another for Lucas Moura against the Hammers and crashing the woodwork himself.

Mourinho has now claimed that Tottenham are trying to manage the on-loan winger’s evolution, adding that he is currently playing the minutes he feels able to play.

So far this season, Bale has played 18 times across all competitions, scoring five and assisting another two. However, he has only appeared for a total of 909 minutes (TransferMarkt).

The majority of Bale’s game time has come in the Europa League against lesser opposition and Mourinho claims he wants to see the Welshman do it in more crucial matches.

He said (Football London): “He doesn’t need to convince me. It’s about playing the minutes I would love him to play. It’s a process.

“You see the number of matches he played in previous years. He had a positive impact, he had a cross, a couple of assists, he had a shot, he hit the post.

“He’s doing that better but he’s not playing 90 minutes. We are managing his evolution. He has nothing to convince me of.

“I can tell you that, in this moment, Gareth is playing the minutes that he feels he can and what he wants and we want is to play more matches than he did and more crucial matches than he did.”

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