If speculation is to be believed, there is a good chance that Gareth Bale will return to the Premier League this summer, with his dream move to Real Madrid having seemingly turned sour.
It's a far cry from the excitement of eight years ago today when a fresh-faced 17-year-old Bale completed a switch from Southampton to Tottenham Hotspur for a £5m fee, with numerous clauses that could see that figure double.
The Welsh youngster actually had the chance to join the North Londoners during the previous January transfer window, but he rejected that opportunity to help the Saints in the promotion bid. However, when it was confirmed that the South Coast side would be spending another campaign in the Championship, Bale decided to move on.
"I'm just excited to be coming to a massive club like Spurs. It's pushing forward and I want to be part of its future," said Bale, who had just 12 months to run on his Southampton deal.
"I really want to play in the Premiership. That's very important to me and this is a fantastic opportunity. I've thought long and hard about it and feel the time is right to move on.
"I could have gone in January but I wanted to try and help Saints win promotion. I felt I owed them that and I didn't want to move mid-season. I wanted to keep my focus on learning and developing my game at a critical stage of the campaign."
Meanwhile, his fellow Welshman and West Ham United defender James Collins said: "He's so young and has plenty of time, but he'll be a star in the Premiership."
Bale arrived at White Hart Lane as an aspiring left-back - a long way from becoming the attacker that has gone on to dismantle defences in both England and Spain.
He made his Spurs debut in a slender 1-0 defeat away at Manchester United, before going on to score in his second outing at Fulham - a game that ended in a 3-3 draw.
Yet, it would take 25 Premier League matches for Tottenham to win when Bale was included in the team as he struggled to hold down a regular place due to lack of form and fitness problems.
It was towards the conclusion of the 2009-10 campaign, under the management of Harry Redknapp, that Bale was moved into a more advanced position and almost immediately he thrived.
He started to add goals to his game, culminating in a return of 26 in all competitions during the 2012-13 season, which convinced Madrid to reportedly part with a world-record fee in the region of £85m to take Bale to the Bernabeu in September 2013.
It meant that Spurs had made a £75m profit on a player that in total made 203 appearances for the club, from which he scored 55 goals.
Liam Apicella
