Former Tottenham manager Martin Jol has been explaining how as manager of Hamburg in 2008, he was offered current Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale for the paltry sum of £5m. Jol was manager of Spurs when they lured Bale away from Southampton and after the youngster suffered from inconsistency at left back and from numerous injuries, Daniel Levy and Spurs wanted rid:
'Spurs saw Bale as a left back, but he probably wasn’t the best left-back in the world, he was more creative, he had electric pace, so everybody saw that he was more suited as a forward player, and Harry Redknapp saw that later on.
"I saw his potential straight away, but other people didn’t see that in the early stages of his career and that led to Spurs offering Bale to me when I went to Hamburg. We had to pay a lot of money to get him though, about five or six million, which we couldn’t afford at the time. I then asked Daniel Levy if we could take him on loan instead, but at that time it was not possible.
So yes, Hamburg could have bought Bale for £5million because, of course, he was not playing at that moment.
He couldn’t get into the side, so Spurs offered him to other clubs'
Better Hamburg than Birmingham?
Via: Daily Mail
Picture: SPORTSFILE
