Gareth Bale: Ex-Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp would 'never have sold' Wales star

Gareth Bale won the Champions League five times with Real Madrid

Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp says he never tried to sell Gareth Bale while he was in charge.

Rumours have persisted that the Wales star was nearly jettisoned early in his Spurs career, following his £10m move from Southampton in 2007.

But Redknapp, who managed Bale at Spurs between 2008 and 2012, said the now retired player was always in his plans.

"Never in a million years was he going to be sold by Tottenham, not a chance," Redknapp told Radio Wales Breakfast.

"He was a young player at Tottenham, I'd only just gone to the club and when I went there he was straight into my first team - so there was never a chance he was ever going to be sold.

"Even if I had wanted to sell him, [Spurs chairman] Daniel Levy would never have allowed me to sell a young player like that. It was never, ever mentioned.

"Someone from another club might have rung me and enquired if I would loan him, we said no obviously and whoever it was must have said I nearly loaned him."

Foot and knee injuries hampered Bale during his first two years at White Hart Lane, while Spurs failed to register a win in his first 24 appearances for the Premier League club.

Many questioned why Redknapp continued to select him, but Bale eventually turned his career around at Spurs - twice named footballer of the year while at the club - and was eventually sold to Spanish giants Real Madrid in 2013 for a then world record fee of £85m.

Bale retired from playing in January 2023 at the age of 33 as Wales' most-capped male player and record men's goalscorer, a five-time Champions League winner.

"He was an amazing footballer, he had everything - speed, skill, physique, he could head it, he could shoot, dribble. He was the full package," Redknapp added.

"I suppose he'd have to be the number one [British player to play abroad]. John Charles at Juventus was an amazing footballer, an amazing man.

"I had the pleasure to get to know him, he was a special person, an incredible footballer... he would be the only other one who would be up there with Gareth, but I would think Gareth would be number one."