One of Tottenham’s biggest downfalls in the history of the transfer market was our inability to replace Gareth Bale when he left for Real Madrid in September 2013 for a record fee of £85.3 million (BBC Sport).
Tottenham used the Bale money to bring in a plethora of players ranging from Christian Eriksen down to Vlad Chiriches. The problem with the reinvestment was that we were not able to replace the man who had somewhat carried the team in the season prior.
Lamela was signed with a portion of the money brought in from Madrid and, as much as I admittedly love the Argentine, he has not lived up to the expectations that we had when he first joined the Lilywhites.
However, with an air of uncertainty around Bale’s current situation, I think it is imperative that we finally replace the Welshman this summer.
I understand that there is still the possibility that he returns to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next year, however, for the purposes of this article, I will assume that he is not returning.
This year, we heavily relied on Son and Kane to score and create chances up until the West Ham game in late February. Since Bale came on in the second half, the two have now transformed into a three giving us another option when hitting teams on the break.
The first time we really saw Bale turn our attack into a three-man threat was against Burnley when the 31-year-old scored a brace and assisted another (TransferMarkt).
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His display here was a breath of fresh air and it showed glimpses of the player who we fell in love with over half a decade ago.
We then saw Bale again throw us back to 2016 with a scintillating display where he bagged himself another brace against Crystal Palace just one matchday later (TransferMarkt).
The addition of Bale saw Kane and Son play with more freedom and gave them the opportunity to make more adventurous runs in and around the Burnley area.
If we lose Bale next season, we run the risk of becoming predictable with our go-to option being Kane dropping deep and Son making the runs off the shoulder of the last defender.
Not only does a third forward man avoid this predictability, but it also gives us the option of multiple men running in behind. This is key to Mourinho’s football, which is based around fast-paced counter-attacks and cut-throat finishing.
Who this addition may be is something we can delve into at a later date but the fact remains we need to replace Bale if he is to jet back off to Madrid.
I hope that Levy takes this opportunity to rectify past mistakes and takes the second bite of the cherry.
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