Peter Crouch explains why Gareth Bale's return to Spurs hasn't worked out so far

Ex-Tottenham striker Peter Crouch has admitted it will be tough for Gareth Bale to rediscover his best form in a Spurs shirt this season because regular game time is tough to come by when the likes of Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Steven Bergwijn are playing well.

Bale was welcomed back to Spurs in September like a long-lost family member returning home when he re-joined the club on loan from Real Madrid, seven years after initially departing for Spain.

But injuries and fitness trouble, combined with serious competition for places, have ensured the 31-year-old has featured only sparingly so far. He has just 160 minutes of Premier League football to his name this season and hasn’t started in the league since November.

Bale has been an unused substitute in each of Spurs’ last two Premier League games, although he made a return to the team and the score-sheet in Monday night’s FA Cup win over Wycombe.

Crouch, who played with Bale during the Welshman's first spell at Tottenham, admits that his return hasn't gone according to plan of yet.

“It’s a bit frustrating to be honest,” Crouch conceded in a conversation with 90min’s Ben Haines.

“You can’t dress it up, it's not gone how he would have liked it to have gone. But I think the form of the front players has sort of made that more difficult.

“He came with an injury. Bit with Son and Kane, certainly, and I think Bergwijn as well, who is a very good player, it is difficult to break that trio up at the moment. While they're doing well, it would be foolish really throw someone [else] in.

“The only way he's going to get much fit is if he plays games and at the moment he just can't. He can't play Premier League games because of that three being so strong.”

Spurs boss Jose Mourinho said to the press after the Wycombe game that Bale will get more minutes on the pitch when he is able to train at a more consistent level without any setbacks.

“We all know the difficulties that he had for a couple of seasons. We all know that he arrived injured, we all know that even this season…a little bit up and down with small things,” Mourinho said.

“The most important thing for him is to be consistent in training, at high intensity without any problems, and when a player is consistent in training then the player is ready, not to be given minutes but to earn minutes.”

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