JERMAIN Defoe returned to Spurs in 2009 after little over a season at Portsmouth and experienced no difficulty whatsoever reproducing the scintillating form that he had displayed up front during his first spell at White Hart Lane.

He is certain that Gareth Bale, whose protracted move back to the London club from Real Madrid was finally completed yesterday, will do exactly the same as him in the coming months.

Bale fell out of favour at the Bernabeu last term - he has only made six appearances for Zinedine Zidane’s team in 2020 – and will have much to prove to the football world in the new campaign.

Is the 31-year-old winger the same player who helped Real win four Champions League titles in five years? Is he the same man who scored that overhead kick against Liverpool in the 2018 final? Or are the Welsh wizard’s powers on the wane? Was Zidane right to marginalise him?

Defoe, who is, as his goal in the 5-0 win over Lincoln Red Imps in the Europa League on Thursday night showed, still going strong at 37, is confident his old team mate will show that he is still a world-class footballer and flourish under Jose Mourinho.

The former England striker believes a front line containing Dele Alli, Bale, Son Hueng-min, Harry Kane and Lucas Moura will take some stopping in the Premier League.

“It is a massive signing, isn’t it?” said Defoe. “It is sort of like the fairytale story with him coming back to Tottenham. He was linked with all those other teams, as you could imagine because he is a top player, and to see it happen now is amazing.

“Obviously, there has always been speculation about Gareth going back to Tottenham because I think they made it clear at Madrid that they didn’t want him there.

“I hope he goes there and does well. The attacking options that Mourinho has now look quite frightening, to be honest. I just want to wish him all the best.

“It has been difficult for him. I know Gareth as a person. He is a nice guy, a family man, and he is a top, top player. All he has to do now is just play football and be happy. That is when we are our happiest - when we’re playing.”

Defoe added: “I have never really understood when people say that you should go back to former clubs, to be honest. He is going back into a team where there has been a transitional period with one of the best managers ever in Jose Mourinho.

“He knows the place. It is only Hugo Lloris that is still there from when he left, so there are going to be loads of new faces and a lot of young players, but, for me, it is the perfect time and the perfect move for him, for sure.”

Rangers won’t face Spurs in the Europa League if they overcome Willem II in the third qualifying round in the Netherlands on Thursday night – Galatasaray or Hadjuk Split await them in the play-offs if they are successful.

However, the prospect of the Ibrox club facing his old employers, or another Premier League outfit, if they make it through to the group stages of the competition for the third season running doesn’t faze Defoe in the slightest.

The forward feels the way that Gerrard’s men coped against top Dutch, Portuguese and Swiss opposition en route to the last 16 last season shows they can give whoever they face a difficult match.

“On a personal note, playing against Tottenham, for me, would be special and emotional,” he said. “At the same time, I do look at our squad and think: ‘You know what? We could actually go there and compete’. I think we showed during the last campaign in Europe.

“You are playing against these top teams and top managers and actually competing and doing well. You never know. You look at a lot of the players in the team and the campaign last season and that brings confidence. We know that we can match these teams physically.”

Defoe is hoping the Rangers squad stays intact when the transfer window closes next month and players like Borna Barisic, Glen Kamara, Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos, who have been linked with moves away in recent weeks, remain at Ibrox.

“It is going on for a long time, but it is part and parcel of the game,” he said. “Obviously I have been involved in many over the years. Sometimes it can be a distraction, but it is important to get your head down and keep playing.

“At the end of the day, you are a Rangers player. If there is speculation about you my advice would be to get your head down and let your football do the talking and leave the talking to other people.”

“Players come and players go. It is just the way it is now. Players who are here and who are involved will find it difficult to ask that question. You never really know what is going on as players. You have to focus on what you should be focused on, which is playing. That is the most important thing, that is what you have to do.”

But Defoe is more concerned with the Premiership match against a Hibernian team who have won five, drawn one and lost just one of the seven matches they have played since football restarted in this country last month. He believes the trip to Easter Road to face Jack Ross’s side will be a stern test.

“They made a good start, they seem confident,” he said. “They have got a good manager, a nice person. I have actually spoken to him. When he was at Sunderland I went to a game and I actually spoke to him briefly down the tunnel. He was a really nice man. I spoke to some of the boys at Sunderland and they said he is a good coach.

“They are a team that has got off to a good start. It is always a difficult place to go anyway, So, yeah, we are looking forward to it.

“But we are going into the game confident. We have scored a lot of goals, haven’t conceded, which is brilliant and a credit to the boys at the back. To be fair, not just the lads at the back, the whole team. We defend from the front, we do a lot of work on the training pitch.

“We go into the game confident, but we know it’s not going to be easy. We have to go there and put in those same performances that we have been doing.”