Gareth Bale Specials 2020/21

After recently transferring back to Tottenham Hotspur after a very public fall out with Real Madrid, Gareth Bale will aim to continue his success at the club where he first established himself as an elite footballer.

Before joining Real Madrid in 2013, Bale won the PFA Player of the Year award twice, the first coming when he was just 21 and the second in his departing year in north London. Only four other players have won the award twice, and the 31-year-old also claimed the Premier League Player of the Season and FWA Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year (x2), amongst others, within a three-season spell.

This was also the first time since David Ginola in which a Spurs player had claimed the prestigious award, and in truth, bar Harry Kane, no Tottenham man has come close since.

Competition for this award is arguably tougher than it was when Bale was last in England, with the stars of Manchester City and Liverpool taking over, whilst the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Chelsea's newbies can't be overlooked just yet.

If the Welshman wants to win this award, he may have to help Spurs reach a top four spot as a bare minimum and no doubt get close to or even break the 20 goal margin, just as he did when winning the award in 2013 with 21.

Bale odds for the PFA Player of the Year for the 2020/21 are currently priced at odds of 16/1 and if the winger can find the elite form shown in the past decade, those odds will quickly shrink - click here to claim this bet at 16/1.

There is no question about Bale’s footballing ability, especially his goalscoring capabilities. At club level alone, he has scored 166 goals in 499 games, 105 of which came in 251 games for Madrid. In the season the winger left Spurs, Bale totalled 21 goals in the league in 33 matches - only Mohamed Salah has scored more in one season from the left wing in the Premier League ever since.

Currently, Bale is out with a knee injury and reports have suggested he won’t return until after the October international break. This will, naturally, impact his ability to reach this target, as he will have missed at least four games and will also have to readjust to English football as well as learn Mourinho’s tactics, upon his return.

Due to his poor relationship with Zidane whilst at Madrid, Bale struggled to break into the first XI in the last campaign, featuring in only 16 league matches and scoring just two La Liga goals. However, prior to the 2018/19 season where Zidane returned, the ex-Southampton man scored 15+ goals in three seasons out of a total of five, despite having most of this time on the pitch cut by injury.

Bale has proved for a decade now that when injury-free and backed by the manager, he will score goals and then some. In 2015/16, the Welshman bagged 19 league goals in 23 games, which although bettered by seven other La Liga players, his goals to game ratio was only beaten by Luis Suarez, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi that year.

Bale’s odds of scoring 15+ goals this season are currently priced at odds of 4/1, and if he gets off and running pretty quickly, expect these odds to be slashed - click here to claim at 4/1.

In his footballing career, Bale has totalled 138 assists in his 499 matches at club level. 68 of these came whilst at Madrid, which is understandable when he played alongside the likes of Karim Benzema and Ronaldo for many years.

In Bale's final season at Spurs, the Wales superstar totalled nine assists from 33 league games, a year after registering 14 in the league for the Lilywhites in 2011/12. Back then, the winger was the main goalscorer for the club and his reliance on getting assists were not as great as his goalscoring prowess.

On top of this, Bale was playing alongside the likes of Jermaine Defoe, Clint Dempsey and Emmanuel Adebayor - a stark contrast from some names currently in Spurs' ranks. Now back at the club, the Madrid loanee will work alongside Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, not long after the two scored and assisted all five goals together against Southampton.

Now in his 30s, there is doubt if he can still total the numbers registered in his prime years. However, if the former Premier League Player of the Year can find the form which won him such prestigious awards, assisting the likes of Kane and Son 10x over should be easy work.

Gareth Bale’s odds of getting 10+ Premier League assists this season are now priced at 5/1 - click this now before odds are slashed ahead of his debut.

The last season Bale played for Spurs, the 31-year-old registered 21 league goals with an almighty nine of them coming from outside the area (42.8%). This set the record for the highest total of goals from outside the box within one Premier League season and to this day, the closest competitors have been from Matt Le Tissier and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank, with eight each. In that year, Bale also recorded the most goals from outside the box in Europe's top five leagues, with Lionel Messi coming second with his seven for Barcelona.

The Welsh wizard is famous for many skills, but his efforts from long-range certainly grab the eye more than anything, as given any chance, he will unleash the venom within that left foot in a heartbeat. Long-range goals down the years at both Madrid and Spurs have seen him create one of modern football's greatest highlight reels, including special efforts from distance in a Champions League final and against Barcelona.

With the Welsh forward being renowned for his long-distance scoring ability, many will be eager to see if this is still the case in his return back to the Premier League. Bale's odds of scoring more than five goals in the Premier League from outside the area are currently priced at 11/1, and considering he could get one at any moment, these odds are certainly worth noting.

Click here to claim this bet at 11/1 ahead of Bale's debut.