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• Man Utd v Spurs preview
That remarkable Champions League hat-trick against Inter at San Siro lingers in the mind, but Bale has been producing consistently impressive performances for almost a year now. This is a player who, at the start of his Tottenham career, went a record 24 Premier League games without being on the winning side. It almost felt as though he was jinxed, but now Bale has become the curse of so many teams in the Premier League.
Scoring three goals at San Siro certainly captured Europe's attention, but speculation about a possible transfer to Serie A appears somewhat far-fetched at present. England, and the Premier League, is where the money is at, and Italian clubs will struggle to encourage his development any better than Spurs can. It is unfair to suggest Bale is firmly in the shop window because Spurs have transformed from being a selling club, trying to get into the top four, to actually finishing in the Champions League places last season. Gareth Bale has got everything he wants at Tottenham at the moment.
From a wider perspective, the issue of whether more British players should consider moving to a continental league is a tricky one; there are certain players who should go abroad, and some who shouldn't. When I embarked on my adventure with Hamburg in 1977, I was 27. I had already played 40 or 50 times for my country and had captained England and Liverpool. I was a very experienced player. Agreeing to join a foreign club is not just a normal transfer - it entails learning the language and learning the culture. The first five or six months after leaving Liverpool were really difficult, but you have to come through that initial period of acclimatisation.
The history of British football is littered with players such as Ian Rush or Jimmy Greaves who, for whatever reason, could not adjust and returned to England after a few months. You have to go back to the 1950s and 1960s for examples of players who really integrated successfully. Gerry Hitchens acquitted himself well at Inter Milan and Torino, and also represented Atalanta and Cagliari between 1961 and 1969. Welsh great John Charles was of course a real success at Juventus, winning the Scudetto on three occasions between 1957 and 1962.
With the financial strength of the Premier League, though, there is no reason to pursue a career abroad any more. To better myself after leaving Liverpool was very difficult, but the challenge of a new culture was right for me, and financially I was better off. Now that would not be the case. No player should exclude the possibility of spending time abroad, but if Gareth Bale wants to play in big games he can do that at Tottenham. He is going to Old Trafford on Saturday and Spurs will want him to replicate the performance he produced against Inter.
• Champion: Spy games
Gareth Bale has been, without doubt, the best player in his position over the past eight months in the Premier League and Saturday's fixture against Manchester United gives him another platform to demonstrate his class. He possesses so much energy and enthusiasm as well as ability, and it makes for a potent combination. 
| “ | I contacted Hamburg and enquired about him ” | |
| Keegan on Van der Vaart |
Though Bale is undoubtedly Tottenham's star performer over the past year, a lot of Spurs fans would also identify Rafael van ver Vaart as a potential leading man after his rapid adaptation to English football. It was a surprise just how late the deal was done to sign him from Real Madrid, but it was equally a moment of real opportunism from Tottenham. Real Madrid needed to get rid of a player because they had signed the likes of Mesut Ozil and Angel Di Maria, and Spurs took full advantage.
Van der Vaart is a player who did very, very well at my former club Hamburg before joining Real in 2008. During my second spell at Newcastle I contacted Hamburg and enquired about him, but when I spoke to my old team-mate Bernd Wehmeyer, who is an official at the club, he said, "You've got no chance of getting him out of here, Kevin, not at this time".
With both Bale and Van der Vaart in top form, Saturday's game against Manchester United will be the perfect game to judge Tottenham's current level. People may say there are no easy games in the Premier League, and that is true, but there are certain games that are less easy than others, and going to Old Trafford is one of those. History suggests Tottenham may struggle - they are without a win there in the league since 1989 - and they will have to play well to get anything out of the game, but I think, on paper, it could be the best match we have had since I have been at ESPN.