Gareth Bale: A Humble Superstar in the Making

This week Gareth Bale penned a new four year contract at Spurs, which undoubtedly involved a pay rise, but a deserved pay rise. Bale has played some top quality football over the last two seasons and has been central to our relative success. Towards the end of last season he wasn't at his best, but he was often pushed into the middle. The BBC amongst others jumped on the bandwagon stating that our failure to secure Champions League football would mean that he would be plying his trade else-wear next season. The welsh international, who is set to star at the Olympics proved everyone wrong by agreeing stay at the Lane.

Last season was a some what transactional one for Bale. He needed to develop his game, he needed to learn how to come inside. By his own admission though the next step is to learn to come inside and use the wings at the same time. In his most recent interview he stated that next season his aim is to work on his all round game and not have to just come inside, or not always hug the touchline. If he can do this, combined with his blistering pace, the sky is the limit for Bale and Spurs next season.

Bale will not be a Spurs player forever, he is destined for great things, he is destined for great things at Spurs and he is destined for great things individually too. One day he will grace the shirt of Real Madrid or Barcelona, and he will do very well there. The fact that he has delayed these moves by at least a year, maybe two if we get in Europe's top competition, shows a great maturity and a lot of loyalty. He realises Spurs have done a lot for him, Spurs as a whole as well as Redknapp, he knows he owes the club and signing a new contract shows that he is willing to repay the faith that has been shown in him by the fans, the management and the board.  Staying after Redknapp has gone shows real passion for the club.

The most refreshing facet of Bale signing a new contract is that he turned to his sceaming and skiving agent, who was already lining up a move abroad, and said "NO!", "I want to stay at Spurs". Not many players would say that in this day and age, most are concerned with personal achievement as quickly as possible. It would have been unwise for Gareth to leave this summer, he is not developed enough to move on yet, he will be one day but he is not yet the complete player. Once he can pull all the areas of his game together then he can become a world class player. Two more seasons and the world will be his oyster. His actions in signing a new contract show a remarkable amount of maturity and humbleness. Hopefully he will be rewarded this season by winning some silverware and having another great season.