Harry Redknapp has completely dismissed suggestions that he considered selling Gareth Bale from Tottenham before he established himself in the side.
Did Tottenham ever come close to selling Gareth Bale?
Many Spurs fans consider Bale to be one of the club’s best players of the Premier League era, with the winger being nearly unplayable during his final few years at Tottenham.
His reputation grew even further thanks to the various trophies he won during his time at Real Madrid after making the switch to the Spanish capital in the summer of 2013.
However, it was certainly not all smooth sailing for Bale at Spurs, with the Lilywhites not winning the first 24 matches in which the Southampton academy graduate featured after his move from the South Coast (ESPN).
Harry Redknapp denies trying to sell Bale
It was under Redknapp that the Welshman established himself in the side and went on to fulfil his potential but there have been some reports over recent years that the winger almost joined Nottingham Forest around 2009 when the Midlands club were in the Championship (The Daily Star).
However, Redknapp refuted that claim, insisting that Bale never came close to an exit from N17.
When asked about reports of the winger coming close to moving the City Ground, the former Spurs boss said on The Fighting Cock: “Never in a million years. That rumour…Nottingham Forest might have rung up and said might we loan him but somebody has probably said later on they could have loaned him or we tried to.
“Listen, I had him at Southampton, I was at Southampton when Gareth was there. I went to watch Tottenham play at Fulham with Joe Jordan, we were playing Fulham or Tottenham the week after, so we went there on Saturday and Gareth Bale played left wing-back that game.
“I remember saying to Joe ‘what a talent he is’. We were saying ‘my God what a talent he is’ but we’d seen him come through the youth team at Southampton. And Daniel [Levy] was never going to let me loan him out, I had no intention of ever loaning him out.”
However, Redknapp did admit that he did not think a young Harry Kane was going to go on the achieve what he has in the game.
Speaking about the striker, who was coming through the academy ranks at the time, the 77-year-old said: “I loaned Harry Kane out because he was a kid who we thought had a good chance of being a player, I couldn’t sit there and say I thought he’d become the best centre-forward in the world, which he did and he is, but at that time I didn’t, I wish I could say I was that clever. We thought there was definitely a player there but he needed to get out and play.
“We loaned him out at Leicester, they never picked him. He went to Norwich, and hardly got off the bench. It was amazing. Went to Leyton Orient, that was his first loan. That would’ve done him good. But certainly, Gareth Bale was to never be loaned.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Redknapp was not alone in not expecting Harry Kane to become a superstar. In fact, at the time, I, like many Spurs fans, did not think the striker had the physical attributes to make it at the highest level.
His growth trajectory from 19 years of age to around 21 was quite spectacular and it serves as a lesson to not write off young players too early.
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