Tottenham Hotspur manager, Jose Mourinho has voiced his concerns that Gareth Bale could suffer a relapse in his recent injury woes as he joins Wales on international duty next week.
Bale has been called up for Wales’ upcoming clashes with the United States, Republic of Ireland, and Finland after missing their October matches due to a knee injury. An Arsenal coach, Albert Stuivenberg, is on the Wales coaching staff and Mourinho did not mince words in expressing his displeasure about the situation.
“The fact that one of their coaches is an Arsenal coach, doesn’t make me very comfortable. Honestly, it doesn’t make me very comfortable. I think national teams should have coaches that work exclusively for them, not coaches that work for other clubs,” he said.
Mourinho has eased Bale back into action following his loan move from Real Madrid to Tottenham as the forward builds his fitness up after spending so long on the sidelines. Robert Page has stepped in to take charge of Wales after the arrest of Ryan Giggs following an allegation of assault. Page will be assisted by Stuivenberg.
Asked about Bale’s fitness, Mourinho said: “I think he’s getting better and better. I felt that he could play 90 minutes [in a Europa League win over Ludogorets on Thursday] but it’s not about can or cannot, it’s about managing the situation and keeping him safe.
“He’s player that needs to be safe, he’s a player that had enough problems in the past. He is working so much and we all are working so much and so carefully with him that we don’t want to destroy the work that everybody has been doing for the past couple of months.
“Of course Wales have two matches where they play in the Nations League and I expect him to play, but if they care as much about him as they say they do, they have to manage the recovery periods, manage how many days between one match and another, manage the minutes he plays and they should not let him get into fatigue levels.
“I don’t think, from what I’m reading, it will not be Giggs responsible for these matches and I’m sorry about that because in the previous fixtures, he called me, we spoke about Ben Davies – not Gareth, because Gareth was not there – and we shared opinions on the situation which is probably not going to happen this time.”
