Jose Mourinho admits Real Madrid have 'power' over Gareth Bale's future

Jose Mourinho has admitted Real Madrid hold all the cards over Gareth Bale's future and was non-committal when asked whether the Welshman could stay in north London for another season.

The loanee has taken his time in getting up to speed but recent performances against West Ham, Wolfsberger and Burnley have been among his best since returning to Spurs.

Asked if he has had work to do in restoring Bale's confidence, Mourinho replied: "I did nothing. It's a very personal thing. When a player has injuries, I believe that a player has scars and many, many times the scars are not just physical. They are also emotional scars.

"A player that has injuries until he gets free and clean emotionally, it takes some time. You just have to be patient and in his case we did nothing. We took care of him the best we could and always will until the last day.

"The friends he has in the dressing room play a role in his happiness, so he was happy. Of course he was missing that happiness related to performing at a high level, I believe in this moment he is there. He is happy and clean, and hopefully we all can manage his minutes, his matches, his feelings, and we are managing the situation the best we can."

The narrative around Bale's future has changed in light of his recent performances. Whereas before there was said to be no interest at all in extending his stay, mainly due to his lack of availability and a worrying performance against Brighton, Mourinho is now being asked whether it's possible for Bale to stay longer than the original loan spell.

When asked whether Bale might stay another season at Tottenham, he added: "I think you should contact your colleagues in Madrid and they should ask [Zinedine] Zidane. He is a Real Madrid player.

"Real Madrid have everything in their hands. They have the player with one year of his contract left and the power in their hands. I just have a player on loan and I'm trying to take the best out of the player for Tottenham with all respect to Real Madrid. It's the same with [Carlos] Vinicius.

"We try to take care of the players we have on loan for us, but also for the respect we have for the clubs that loan us the player. If you want to know anything about Gareth's future, ask your colleagues in Madrid to ask Zizou."

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