Gareth Bale travels with Tottenham squad & could make early return from injury against Wolves

EPL ; Gareth Bale, Newcastle United v Tottenham (Getty images)

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By Wayne Veysey | Chief correspondent

Tottenham have been handed a massive boost after Gareth Bale made a stunning recovery from his back injury and travelled with the rest of the squad this afternoon to Wolves ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash.

Just two days ago, Spurs were certain that the Welshman would not play this weekend and manager Harry Redknapp had all but ruled him out of Wednesday night’s Champions League decider against AC Milan.

Bale, 21, has been reluctant to rush back into action but trained with the rest of the first team on Saturday morning for the first time in more than a month and has declared himself fit to play some part at Molineux.
 
Bale began light training earlier in the week but felt some discomfort and was unable to begin sprinting.

Redknapp is now likely to use Bale as a substitute and the winger could be pushing for a start in the Champions League last 16 second leg tie against Milan if he comes through unscathed. Spurs head into the game with a 1-0 advantage over the Serie A leaders after the first leg in Italy.

Bale was initially ruled out for two weeks by Spurs’ medical team after coming off nine minutes into their 1-1 draw at Newcastle on January 22. But the injury, which has troubled the Welsh international since the turn of the year, proved more problematic than was initially feared.

Bale has emerged as one of the most coveted left-sided players in world football following a campaign in which he twice destroyed reigning champions Inter Milan in the group stages and has contributed 11 goals and a series of outstanding performances in all competitions.