'Seven years is a long gap': Mourinho says fans cannot expect same from Bale

Tottenham Hotspur's Jose Mourinho has downplayed the hype created after Bale's return to the English club after seven years. According to the Portuguese manager, Bale cannot be the same explosive player who left the Premier League club to join Real Madrid seven years ago.

Bale has featured for three games in all competitions this season, including Thursday's 1-0 Europa League defeat by Belgian league leaders Royal Antwerp. He has not played any major role in these matches despite Mourinho's statement that the Welshman was ready to "fly". 

However, Mourinho said: "Seven years is a long gap, so which player in the world is the same as he was seven years ago? Sometimes they're not better or worse, just different players."
 
"You look for example to (Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Lionel) Messi and compare them with seven years ago. They play in different areas, different positions.

"They transform their qualities, try to explore their qualities in other responsibilities on the tactical system of their teams. I think it happens with the majority of the players. So for sure he's a different player.

Mourinho backed Bale to regain his best form with more minutes under his belt.

"Every word I said on Wednesday I believe, because he's working hard, he's improving, he doesn't have one single injury since he recovered from the last one," Mourinho added.

"He didn't miss a single minute of any training session. To play 90 minutes is still hard, to play high intensity is still difficult, but he's improving and hopefully he'll be back to a better level soon."