Tottenham Hotspur have been linked with an ambitious reunion with one of their former stars this week but it could spell disaster in north London...

What's the word?

According to Mundo Deportivo (via Sport Witness), Real Madrid are hoping that Spurs will make an offer for outcast winger Gareth Bale this summer.

They claim that Jose Mourinho has long been an admirer of the Welsh international but the La Liga outfit are yet to receive any offers.

Zinedine Zidane will not let the 31-year-old leave for free either with a fee of around €25m (£23m) being mooted, although he'll be hard to offload with two years still to run on his current contract.

Financial nightmare

Not only will Spurs have to pay a transfer fee for Bale, but also his astronomical wages - even if he takes a pay cut, it'll still be an outrageous amount as he's reportedly on £350k-per-week after tax.

Harry Kane and club-record signing Tanguy Ndombele are the highest earners at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on wages thought to be £200k-per-week, as per Spotrac (via the National).

Mourinho made a run at clinching Bale whilst in charge at Manchester United in 2018, claiming that he could win the Balon d'Or and even before that, he tipped him to become better than his old Chelsea mainstay Ashley Cole which is quite astonishing.

Last season, the veteran winger was barely used by Zidane. In just 12 La Liga starts, he provided two goals and two assists whilst averaging 2.1 shots, 1.1 dribbles and 0.8 key passes, via Whoscored.

You'd have to wonder what sort of impact he would now have at Spurs considering Heung-min Son, Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn are all first-choice wide options.

Bale has been described as everything from "exceptional" to "special" in the past, so there's no doubting that he'd be adored should he swap Madrid for his former club.

Although, it just simply doesn't make the slightest bit of sense as Levy is trying to sell before he brings in a new backup striker.

It'll be a financial catastrophe to bring Bale back to N17.

AND in other news, Spurs tipped perfect location for "game-changer" who Poch wanted in 2016...