Mourinho worried about Bale working with Arsenal coach on Wales duty

November 7, 2020

José Mourinho has said he is uneasy that Gareth Bale will be under the jurisdiction of an Arsenal coach when the Tottenham winger returns to international duty next week.

Bale is back in the Wales squad after missing the October internationals and, with Ryan Giggs absent after being arrested on suspicion of assault, they will be led by assistant coaches Robert Page and Albert Stuivenberg, who also works alongside Mikel Arteta for Spurs’ arch-rivals.

Bale lasted 65 minutes in Tottenham’s victory over Ludogorets on Thursday, the most he has played since returning to Spurs on a season-long loan deal from Real Madrid. Bale suffered a knee injury during Wales’s win over Bulgaria in September and has since been building his fitness at Tottenham.
“He’s a player that needs to be safe, he’s a player that had enough problems in the past,” Mourinho added. “He’s working so much and we’re all working so carefully with him that we don’t want to destroy the work everybody is doing for the last couple of months. If they care as much about him as we do, they have to manage the recovery period.”