Premier League icon who won Champions League five times turned down Man Utd for Spurs

Gareth Bale watched on with a smile as his old club in 17 years after defeating . But the Welshman's story could have been very different had he not turned down the chance to join the Red Devils over the north London side.

Almost two decades ago, a young was catching eyes from full-back, scoring five goals and assisting 12 times across 45 appearances for then-Championship side . New was interested, but he faced stiff competition from giant Sir and his Manchester United boardroom.

Bale decided to turn down , though, and head to north London in 2007 instead, telling his Airwayz channel in 2023 that this decision actually led to his success rather than any potential downfall.

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The 35-year-old said: "I rejected and went to . At that time, United were the biggest team in the league, they were winning trophies, they had the biggest players, the best manager.

"The easiest decision would be to go to Man United and the biggest club. You always want to be at the biggest clubs but I took the approach that I wanted to be playing first-team football."

But Bale bucked the trend; he chose Spurs and spent six seasons carving out a move from left-back to creative forward, scoring 42 goals in 142 appearances and impressing throughout his time in the Premier League.

From there, the Welshman carved out a sensational transfer to Spanish giants in 2013 for a then-world record fee of £85million. He joined superstars like , Angel Di Maria, Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Casemiro and Luka Modric in the famous white kit, and spent nine seasons with the club.

In this time, Bale scored 106 goals in 258 appearances, winning five Champions Leagues, three titles and a host of other honours. The attacker spent one season back on loan to Spurs, before joining Los Angeles FC and retiring in 2023 as one of the greatest players in both Welsh and footballing history.

So while many would assume Bale would regret the decision to snub Ferguson and his Red Devils – who won the Premier League title under Sir Alex in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013 – for Spurs, the retired winger insisted that a need for consistent game time at a young age was more important to him than money and glory.

He added: "At that age, a lot of players would go for the money and would want to go to a bigger club.

"But I was playing, developing and learning. It was an important part of my development to keep playing first-team football because you can't replicate that."

Now, it seems that Bale will have the last laugh over the team that could've been but wasn't, as he following their damaging European defeat this week.

During TNT Sport's broadcast of Spurs' 1-0 final win, Bale was questioned on whether this win will get rid of the 'Spursy' tagline that the club are serial losers.

He was quick to respond at United's woes, as he said: "It could be a United-y thing now, I am telling you. But it gets rid of that stigma now for sure, and hopefully we can build on it."

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