Redknapp denies considering Bale sale

Harry Redknapp has hit back at claims he considered letting Gareth Bale go while he was Tottenham manager.

Former Spurs director of football Damien Comolli has appeared to suggest that Redknapp was open to selling the Wales star, reportedly to Birmingham City for £3m.

But the QPR boss, who was in charge at White Hart Lane between 2008 and 2012, has insisted that was never the case.

Redknapp said: “I hear rumours that I’m supposed to have wanted to loan him out at one time, which was never true. Never ever did I think about loaning him or letting Gareth Bale leave Tottenham.

“I’d followed his career and always knew he was going to be one of the absolute top players – never in any doubt.”

Comolli has also suggested that Redknapp had to be persuaded to move Bale, who later left Tottenham to join Real Madrid, from left-back to a more advanced position.

“Someone said Damien Comolli told me to play Gareth Bale on the left wing,” said Redknapp.

“I never worked with Damien Comolli – he wasn’t at the club when I went there, he’d left. When I went in, he was gone, so I never had any contact with him.

“I played Gareth on the left wing but I wasn’t the first one to do it. I saw him play on the left wing for [ex-Spurs boss] Martin Jol and he was fantastic.

“Martin moved him and I moved him from left-back to left wing – no one told me to do it.

“Now he plays left wing, right wing or through the middle – he’s just an amazing talent.

“I couldn’t take the credit and certainly Damien Comolli couldn’t take the credit. The only person who can take the credit is the boy himself.”

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