Marseille coach Andre Villas-Boas has spoken of working with Gareth Bale at Tottenham.

Bale first joined Spurs from Southampton in 2007, but after struggling to impress under a number of managers he began to show his best under first Harry Redknapp and then Villas-Boas.

The Welsh international, who has recently re-joined Spurs on loan from Real Madrid, actually began his career as a left-back before moving further forward as a winger.

AVB recalled to Copa90: "Another time, when Gareth wasn't feeling that he was unlocking his full potential, he came into my office one day and he said: 'Boss I'm not happy, things are not going well for me'.

"'Ok,' I said, 'I can try and change to a 4-4-2 formation, and you play free at the top with (Emmanuel) Adebayor and I can move (Gylfi) Sigurðsson to the left, cutting in.'

"This is when Gareth starts on that run of games where he scored, I think for 5 or 6 games in a row, and then the results exploded, and his career exploded from that moment on."