Report: Conte keen on return of Spurs legend ahead of former Chelsea player

New Tottenham Hotspur head coach Antonio Conte has reportedly told chairman Daniel Levy that he has no interest in bringing Eden Hazard to the club and would instead prefer to see Gareth Bale return for the third time.

Bale spent last season on loan in North London but failed to feature regularly under Jose Mourinho, having only made six Premier League starts.

The Welshman’s agent, Jonathan Barnett insisted that there was no falling out between Bale and the Portuguese, instead suggesting the pair did not have the same opinion when it came to football (The Mirror).

Carlo Ancelotti’s arrival at Real Madrid presented the 32-year-old with a fresh opportunity to play during his last year of his contract at the Santiago Bernabeu, only to have been ruled out of action since mid-September due to injury (transfermarkt).

OkDiario’s Eduardo Inda has claimed on popular Spanish TV show El Chiringuito that Conte snubbed the opportunity to bring the former Chelsea player back to the Premier League.

Inda said: “Daniel Levy would like to take a Real Madrid player who is always injured.

“He wanted to sign Eden Hazard, but Conte has told him ‘no’ because he knows him from when he trained at Chelsea and says that he has little intensity and that he is not a very hard worker.

“The most striking thing is the player that Conte has asked Levy to take him to London. He is Gareth Bale.

“Bale ends his contract at the end of the season, but in winter he would not be free.”

SpursWeb Opinion

Bale’s return to Spurs last season was only a frustration due to the way he was limited in his game time by Jose Mourinho, if Conte had been in charge we would have seen the Welshman having played regularly.

A move for Bale in January seems unrealistic, given the fact he would still have six months to run on his contract in the Spanish capital, unless Spurs were once again prepared to cover their fair share of his hefty wage packet.

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