Tottenham seem to have a knack of producing surprise stars.
Once upon a time, Harry Kane was a struggling striker who wasn’t making an impact on loan at Leicester City and Norwich before becoming a superstar, while a few years prior, Gareth Bale went through a similar transformation.
Speaking on the On The Judy Podcast, Ledley King has been reminiscing about his time with Bale at Tottenham, and he says that nobody at Spurs expected Bale to become the player he has.
The 34-year-old is now retired, an he’s undoubtedly one of the best to ever play the game, but according to King, nobody saw this coming.
Bale shocked everyone
King spoke about the Welsh superstar.
“Gareth was the player who reached the highest level of everyone for me. It’s crazy. Gareth was a quiet kid, and when you look at his career now it’s crazy. When he left Southampton for Tottenham he was a quiet kid. I don’t think anyone expected him to have the career he had. What I did see was that he could be a great left-back. One of the best in the world as a left-back or a wing-back, but somehow he turned into something different, and he played basically anywhere. He turned into a different animal, it was just crazy,” King said.
Incredible
King is absolutely right, nobody saw this coming from Bale.
Cast your mind back 15 years, if you can, and you’ll remember Bale as this skinny full-back who couldn’t win a game to save his life.
A decade later, he’s this hulking physical athlete of a winger who is winning Champions League finals basically by himself, it’s night and day.
Nobody saw this coming from Bale, not least his own teammates at Spurs, but the Welsh star’s rise to prominence just goes to show what can be achieved if you work hard enough in this game.