JOSE MOURINHO appeared to send a warning shot to Gareth Bale in a recent Tottenham training session.
The Welsh winger, 31, returned to Spurs last summer on a season-long loan deal having been frozen out by Zinedine Zidane.
Bale has been largely ineffectual during his cameo appearances, managing just one goal in four Premier League appearances.
His second stint in North London was summed up well by his debut, where he came off the bench with Spurs leading 3-0, only to slip to a 3-3 draw.
While rotting out of the starting XI at Real Madrid, Bale became infamous for his off-pitch antics.
As well as posing with a ‘Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order’, flag – much to the annoyance of fans of the LaLiga giants – the former most-expensive player in the world irked Zidane with his antics on the bench.
Bale was seen attempting the ‘bottle-flip challenge’ during one match, while putting his feet up and watching the game through pretend binoculars in another, amongst other stunts.
And now it seems the winger may have just wound-up current boss Mourinho.
During a recent training session – with the video shared on Spurs TV – the Portuguese chief could be overheard seemingly admonishing Bale.
Mourinho’s iconic voice could be heard saying: “You want to stay here? Or go to Real Madrid and play no football?”
FANCY A PUNT? TODAY’S BEST ODDS BOOSTS FROM THE UK’S LEADING BOOKIES
It’s the latest in a series of blows for Bale.
Earlier this week, Mourinho revealed Tottenham hadn’t discussed extending Bale’s stay in North London ‘for a second’.
Mourinho said: “There was not even a second of discussion about that.
“Gareth is a player who is on loan until the end of the season. There has not been one second of discussion.
“We are speaking about facts, Gareth himself, Real Madrid, Tottenham… but I promise you not one second of discussion.”
Bale has managed just ONE Premier League start in his four appearances, while scoring once in six Europa League games in a sub-par return.
But Mourinho reckons the forward can still make his second spell in London a success.
The boss said: “Of course he arrived injured and he was injured for the first month.
“Then step by step, the Europa League matches were helping him to get his condition.
“In the Premier League he has not played many minutes and then another small injury at Stoke where he was having a good first half.
“He’s now coming back, it’s not an easy process. Everybody knows the past couple of seasons at Real Madrid were not easy for him.
“But let’s go step by step and try to get the best out of him.”
