Has Gareth Bale done enough to justify his hefty price tag?

Since Gareth Bale slipped on the Real Madrid shirt for the first time, he has had just 135 touches of the ball.
To put that into some kind of context, Bale was in possession 103 times in his final game for Tottenham last season.
Little wonder, then, that stories about Manchester United making a move to bring the forward back to English football have already resurfaced.

Bale’s career at the Bernabeu makes grim reading so far and is certainly not what president Florentino Perez expected from his £86m investment.

Here, then, are Bale’s touches for Los Blancos since his world record move to Madrid,
34 v Barcelona as a starter (October 26)
6 v Juventus as a substitute (October 23)
12 v Malaga as a substitute (October 19)
22 v Atletico Madrid as a substitute (September 28)
26 v Galatasaray as a substitute (September 17)
35 v Villarreal as a starter (September 14).

There will be a sense of frustration that Bale continues to be compared with Cristiano Ronaldo, but that’s what happens when you move for the big money. Yesterday they were both named in FIFA’s 23 man shortlist for the Ballon d’Or award, underlining Bale’s status in the global game. When it comes to stripping down the statistics, however, Ronaldo is streets ahead of his Real Madrid team-mate. Ronaldo has been on the ball 773 times in Real’s haphazard start to the season and still scored 15 times. That is a remarkable return. The former Spurs winger has struggled to overcome a niggling injury since his move to Madrid, but the bigger concern is his role in the team.

At White Hart Lane, the moment Tottenham’s players regained possession they looked up and picked out Bale. He was the main man. He responded with 21 goals in the Barclays Premier League and many of them were match-winning contributions. That was against Sunderland, when he was the main man at White Hart Lane and they were fighting to qualify for the Champions League. He scored the winner in the 89th minute, another magical strike from the edge of the area in his sign-off game. Those 103 touches were no accident. He was Tottenham’s talisman and he demanded the ball as he searched for the opening by drifting between Sunderland’s defenders.

By then Bale was the undoubted star of the Premier League and he deserved his move to the Bernabeu after Tottenham failed to beat Arsenal across the finishing line to fourth again.
He was crowned PFA young player of the year and PFA player of the year in the same season and was also named FWA footballer of the year.

He remains an exceptional player, but he is going through some tough moments in the first phase of his career with his new club. Ancelotti is uncertain where to pick him and he has been trialled in various positions during his first, fitful starts for the club.

Against Barcelona he was lost as the collective passing ability of Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas and Neymar controlled the game.
Ancelotti was satisfied enough with the hour he played as he continues to build up his fitness, but there is concern over Bale’s ability to adapt.

The Real Madrid coach hinted that he needs to improve his movement with his new team-mates if he is to become one of the Untouchables in his team. At Spurs he was given a roaming role after he told Andre Villas-Boas of his disenchantment at the start of last season. It was a conversation Villas-Boas relayed when the Spurs coach made a speech in Bale’s honour at the FWA Football of the Year awards at the Royal Lancaster in May. Bale got his way when he forced his move to the Bernabeu in the summer, but he has yet to rediscover his true form. Instead he needs to apply the finishing touch for Real Madrid.