Some players are simply too good for one position, while some are so good they could play and excel all over the pitch. Gareth Bale is in this category.
After starting his professional career as a left-back before moving further and further forward, his natural athletic abilities – a young Bale could have had a very promising athletics career – made it obvious that the Welshman could wreak havoc on the wing. Could he make the next step and become the spearhead? Or rather, should he?
It is a rarity for a British player, who are often said to lack the technical ability and game awareness, to play more than one position. But the idea of the world’s most expensive player as the main man up top was first publically mooted by his national manager, Chris Coleman. But suggesting putting the €100m-man there was through necessity, not choice. It immediately got fans wondering.
As it turned out, Coleman played his one recognised striker against Andorra, with Bale playing the last half an hour upfront. With Wales desperately searching for a winner – and of course it was the 25-year-old who provided it – a frantic Welsh team against European minnows is not the best measure of Bale’s predatory instincts.
So what about club football? Where, and why, would Carlo Ancelotti consider Bale at the top of his formation? Well, with the recent sale of Xabi Alonso, early summer sale of Alvaro Morata, and especially the loss of Angel Di Maria, the most expensively assembled squad doesn't quite have the depth it once did. Scoring 13 goals in one week is fantastic, but doubts remain over the defence.
Ancelotti's default mode is to attack, but in the big League and European games, it might have to be a case of leaving out one of Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema or James Rodriguez. Indeed, even in potentially easier games, squad rotation will demand players are rested. Therefore, when Benzema is rotated, why not try Bale?
Sir Alex Ferguson sometimes employed Ronaldo as the furthest man up field, especially in some important European ties. It wasn’t necessarily to fill the traditional striker role, but Ronaldo had the strength and skill to hold the ball up, combined with fantastic dynamism. Bale could do a similar role for Madrid.
This isn't to say this should be Madrid first choice tactic. But with questions having been asked of Ronaldo’s fitness, Chicharito and James still settling in, and Jese still a fledgling talent, playing Bale as a striker would give opposing teams plenty to think about.
Great players can play anywhere. Think Phillip Lahm, the man Pep Guardiola described as “perhaps the most intelligent footballer I have ever trained” being employed in midfield. For 45 minutes in the 2005 Champions League final, Steven Gerrard was the best right-back in world football. At Manchester United, Ronaldo transcended football, according to his old teammate, Gary Neville.
For Bale to play another position would not be heralding new ground. But it’s an idea – one that, in the search for squad freshness, may be exactly what Madrid need.
