Mourinho confirms Gareth Bale won’t debut until after October international break

Gareth Bale’s loan signing with Tottenham Hotspur was the big news of the weekend, but as expected Spurs will need to wait a while before Bale takes the pitch wearing the #9 shirt.

The Evening Standard has quotes from Jose Mourinho that confirmed Bale joined Spurs with a slight knee injury picked up during his two games with Wales during the international break. As a consequence, and because he did not have much of a preseason with Real Madrid before finalizing his transfer, he is not expected to be fit to play until after the upcoming October international break. Those matches will take place the week of October 7.

However, Jose Mourinho suggested that Bale might be back even sooner, saying his “motivation” might allow him to recover faster from injury.

“The only thing I know is that his motivation is high. He’s so happy to be with the club of his heart, he’s so happy to play for us. And when a player has this motivation, many times you can short [reduce] the period of recovery, you can short the period of getting fit and ready to play.

“We’re more than happy to have him and help him back to a level that made him one of the best players in the world.”

I don’t think there’s any physio in the world that would state that one’s mental state can force-heal an injury away, but there are plenty of suggestions that positive thinking can have an affect one one’s overall well-being. It does sound as though Bale’s knee injury is a minor thing and the club obviously aren’t worried about it. I’m more concerned about Bale getting match fit, and that’s the kind of thing that can take some time.

At any rate, we’ll all need to be patient for a while before we see Weezus take the pitch, whatever Mourinho says