Gareth Bale of Tottenham Hotspur and manager Jose Mourinho during the Tottenham Hotspur training session at Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre on October 07, 2020 in Enfield, England.
Jose Mourinho says Gareth Bale's happiness is a key priority as the Wales international closes in on a second Tottenham debut.
Bale has been recovering from a knee injury but could be involved for Spurs on Sunday when they face West Ham at home.
The 31-year-old, who did not feature for Real Madrid this season before rejoining Spurs on a season-long loan, took part in training with the rest of the squad on Thursday. He played twice for Wales in early September, but was not in their squad for the latest international fixtures due to his knee problem.
Mourinho refused to be drawn on whether or not Bale could feature against the Hammers, but stressed the importance of maintaining the morale of his high-profile transfer-window acquisition.
"The team is the most important thing and Gareth is here to help the team," Mourinho told Sky Sports. "But at the same time we care about him. We care a lot about him.
"So the decisions we are going to make are going to be for the good of the team, but also for his own good. It is very important he has a happy season with us and I think at this moment of his career that is very, very important."
Tottenham had a hectic period prior to the international break, playing five games in 10 days, but while Mourinho was delighted to see his team win four of those matches, he says they now go into a "new period" in which the efforts must be restarted.
"In that period we were complaining about too many matches and last week we were complaining about no matches, so we are always complaining," he said.
"But, jokes apart, we coped well with this busy period because the squad is very good and the boys have been fantastic.
"It is strange during the international period because you want to work and you cannot work, you're waiting for players, but we have a big match on Sunday against a team that is playing well so we forget what we've done well in the past couple of weeks and a new period starts on Sunday."
