Busted flush or ace in the pack? Gareth Bale may not have his electric pace of a decade ago but he can still be a threat for Tottenham

The tell-tale signs were there, even as Gareth Bale drifted into the shadows at Real Madrid.

This summer, as Spanish football emerged from shutdown, Zinedine Zidane tested his players’ speed, their strength, their readiness to secure LaLiga glory.

Bale was top of the class. And yet over Real’s final 12 matches, boss Zidane used the 31-year-old once. It was the surest sign of bridges burned but evidence, too, that Bale’s weapons still fired.

On Sunday against West Ham, Bale can prove just how much gunpowder remains.