Legendary AC Milan defender Paolo Maldini has said that Tottenham’s star player Gareth Bale is a very good player, but he does lack in the defensive area of things. Paolo Maldini is regarded as one of the greatest defenders of recent times and he represented AC Milan for more than 20 years at the top level.
However, he is of the opinion that Gareth Bale may be extremely good at in terms of the attacking sense, but he needs to learn defending as well in order to be one of the absolute greats in world football. Gareth Bale has definitely come of age since Tottenham appointed Harry Redknapp.
He has been one of the main reasons for Tottenham continuously challenging for the Champions League football in the last few years. He initially started out as a left back when he was originally signed from Southampton for around £ 8 million. There was a time during his career when he simply was not able to be on the part of a winning team mainly because of this poor defending. It consequently led him to be dropped from the team altogether, but the arrival of Harry Redknapp revealed his career. Instead of using him as a left back, Harry Redknapp used him as a left winger.
This move paid off great dividends, as Gareth Bale has been one of the main players for Tottenham since then. “Most left-backs now are converted midfielders, much more likely to attack. The rule is: if you cannot get back, you must not go forward. The current best specialist is Marcelo, who gets it right in both areas. Bale [has been] unmasked: [he] knows only how to attack. Just like [Milan’s Urby] Emanuelson,” the former Italian international mused to Il Corriere dello Sport.