Tottenham Hotspur witnessed the sensational return of Gareth Bale in 2020, though his impact thus far has been far from that.

Of course, nobody was expecting the Welsh superstar to his the dazzling heights of his former spell in north London considering he's 31, but he's barely shown any signs of why the Premier League outfit should keep hold of him past the summer.

Injuries have somewhat blighted Bale's spell, restricting him to just 598 minutes in all competitions; he isn't likely to usurp Heung-min Son or Harry Kane either.

Eurosport journalist Dean Jones believes both Jose Mourinho and Daniel Levy are enticed by the idea of keeping the Real Madrid star around despite all of the doubts - something that would certainly please the La Liga giants as it would get his enormous salary off the wage bill.

Spurs are thought to only be paying 40% of his £600k-per-week wages, luckily.

Whilst it would be a fairytale to see Bale back to his best in a Lilywhites shirt, it is probably time to move on from that dream and accept that it just hasn't worked out.

And they needn't worry as they have a ready-made replacement waiting in the wings - or at least, waiting over in Germany as Ryan Sessegnon continues to impress during his loan spell at Hoffenheim.

The 20-year-old is getting valuable game time and has quickly become their first-choice left wing-back, the very position where Bale made his name.

In nine Bundesliga starts, he has contributed to four goals and has also made 12 dribbles, 16 interceptions and 24 tackles, per WhoScored.

We're finally starting to see why Spurs paid £25m for him in 2019. It would be silly to not give him an opportunity upon his return.

Already, he's been likened to Bayern Munich dynamo Alphonso Davies, whilst Hoffenheim sporting director Alexander Rosen has dubbed him "highly talented."

Even before his arrival in north London, Sessegnon was drawing. comparisons to Bale, so it seems only right that the transition is made with the Welshman now back at the club.

The "huge talent" - now valued at £18m - is doing everything asked of him out on loan and will present far better value than whatever Spurs will have to pay to keep hold of their former generational talent.

AND in other news, Fresh injury BLOW a cause for concern for Spurs boss Jose Mourinho...