Gareth Bale makes Man Utd remark over Tottenham transfers and biggest issue – 'They're not willing'

With Tottenham Hotspur currently in the grip of a relegation battle, former Spurs ace Gareth Bale offered his thoughts on the transfer approach of his old club

Gareth Bale believes Tottenham Hotspur will struggle to progress if they fail to challenge the likes of Manchester United when it comes to wages.

Spurs are currently knee deep in a relegation battle. Many are pouring over the wreckage of the north Londoners' current campaign, evaluating where things have gone wrong.

The club's approach to transfers and wages has been identified as an issue, with former manager Ange Postecoglou recently suggesting they are reluctant to fork out on big players with big wages.

Out of the so-called 'Big six' Tottenham £222m wage bill is the lowest and nearly £100m less than United's wage bill of £313million.

Bale echoed the thoughts of Postecoglou, saying Spurs need to be offering bigger wage packets to attract the Premier League proven players they need to climb up the table.

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Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Bale, when asked where he believes Spurs are lacking, said: "I would say money. They don't pay as much as United and you look at the wage bill it's lower.

"Buying a £50million player it's not what it used to be. You must be spending 80, 90, 100 now just to get a good player. They need that bit of a gamble, from a business point of view they're maybe not willing to do it.

"I don’t know how they're doing financially but it seems to be that for me that's probably the biggest issue they just don't sign the proven player.”

Speaking on the same podcast a matter of weeks before, Postecoglou said: "I still felt like, you know, Tottenham as a club was saying, 'We're one of the big boys.' And the reality is, I don't think they are in terms of my experience over those last two years, of how they act.

"When Arsenal need players, they'll spend a hundred million on Declan Rice. I don't see Tottenham doing that. It's a real curiosity in terms of understanding what are they trying to build?

"Obviously, they've built an unbelievable stadium, unbelievable training facilities. But when you look at the expenditure, particularly, you know, their wages structure, they're not a big club. I saw that because when we were trying to sign players, we weren't in the market for those players.

"Not a big club in terms of the wages that they pay. You know, I was looking at Pedro Neto and [Bryan] Mbeumo and [Antoine] Semenyo at the time, Marc Guehi, because I said; 'If we're going to go from fifth to there, that's what other big clubs would do in that moment.'"

West Ham United's away victory over Fulham dragged Spurs to within one point of the relegation zone. Spurs have not been outside the top flight since 1977, when they were relegated to the second division.