Gareth Bale never considered Tottenham Hotspur exit

Welsh winger Gareth Bale has insisted that he did not think about leaving Tottenham Hotspur this summer.

The 23-year-old, who scored in Spurs' 3-1 win over Reading on Sunday, was linked with a big-money move to Barcelona in the early stages of the transfer window.

While other stars such as Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart did leave White Hart Lane, Bale stayed to work under new manager Andre Villas-Boas.

Despite the apparent interest from high-profile admirers, Bale has revealed that he is happy at Tottenham and wants to fire them back into Europe's elite.

"No [I never thought of leaving]. I've always been focused on my game, playing football, and I'm enjoying myself here at the moment so there's no reason to go anywhere," he said.

"I'm enjoying my football, we've got a great squad now and hopefully next season we can get Champions League football, where we should be."

Bale joined Spurs from Southampton in 2007 for a reported £6m fee.