'He was the best after Messi and Ronaldo' What happened to Bale?

Gareth Bale was among the very best at a certain point in time but has suffered a massive decline over the past few seasons.

In a bid to revive his career, Gareth Bale decided to make a blockbuster return to Tottenham last summer.

Many expected the Welshman to add firepower to a Spurs attack that already had the likes of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.

Halfway through the season and Bale can barely get minutes under Jose Mourinho.

The 31-year-old has made just TWO Premier League starts and completed the full 90 minutes just ONCE. In fact, most of his 15 appearances have come in the Europa League and brief cameos from the bench.

🗣"I'm doing my best, he is doing his best, everyone is doing the best"

Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho explains Gareth Bales' absence from the side and why he didn't come on from the bench pic.twitter.com/nLQcTwQAuj
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 5, 2021

In the most recent blow, Bale was left out of the matchday squad for Spurs’ 5-4 defeat to Everton.

Harry Redknapp, who once coached the forward, believes Mourinho never wanted the Welshman and adds that the player needs someone who believes in him.

At his peak, Redknapp says Bale was up there as the third-best player in world football behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. However, it’s been a different story for a while now.

“At the time I thought Gareth Bale would be an amazing signing” Redknapp said on Friday’s talkSPORT Breakfast.

“I could see that forward line, Son, Bale and Kane, I thought ‘oh my God they are going to be scary together’, but for whatever reason it hasn’t worked for Gareth.”

“I don’t know what the problem is with Gareth at the moment. He’s not the most confident of boys.”

“I know he’s been one of the top players in the world, let’s be honest, there was a spell where for me he’d probably been the third-best player around behind Messi and Ronaldo, he was that good when he was at his best.”

“But he’s still not a very confident boy. He’s one of those lads who, no matter how great you are, it doesn’t change his personality, and he’s a very quiet lad. He needs confidence and he needs somebody to believe in him.”

Redknapp continued on Bale: “At the moment he’s had ten minutes here, five minutes there, when he starts he gets subbed, and when he gets subbed it’s all, ‘we were better in that last half hour’ after Gareth has come off…”

“All the signals he’s been getting [from Mourinho]…”

“I’m disappointed with how it’s gone for him. I was really expecting big things from Gareth when he came back.”