Gareth Bale believes Joe Rodon should be playing regularly at Tottenham.
Rodon was restricted to just 10 appearances in all competitions at Spurs last season, with only three of those coming in the Premier League. He is widely expected to depart Antonio Conte's side this summer in a bid to get regular game time elsewhere.
Despite the defender's lack of action in north London, he performed admirably in his country's play-off matches against Austria and Ukraine as Wales secured a pair of victories to book their place at the 2022 World Cup. But Rodon's fellow Wales international and former Tottenham team-mate Bale believes the Llangyfelach product will strengthen any team in the Premier League should he leave Spurs.
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"For me personally, I feel like he should be playing at Tottenham," said Bale. "I think he’s shown time and time again how good he is, I think personally when I was there last year, I felt he deserved to be playing.
"He’s a top professional, he doesn’t moan – he tries to moan but I tell him not to. I just say keep your head down, keep working because that way the manager can never use that excuse to not play you. So he is a very good professional, he’s a great young player.
"Of course he knows himself he should be playing week-in and week-out. He wants to be playing week-in and week-out. I don’t feel like he’s really had the opportunity to play a consistent run of games at Tottenham and I feel like if he did, he would be fantastic for them.
"Even if he has to go to another team, he’s going to strengthen that team no matter who it is. So he’s a great player, obviously a great friend and top professional as well."
With little more than five months to go until the World Cup in Qatar, Wales boss Rob Page is eager to see his top stars playing regularly at club level. Ethan Ampadu and Neco Williams are among those to secure loan moves away from their parent clubs last season, with the pair shining at Venezia and Fulham respectively.
Rodon was unable to secure a move away from Tottenham in January but excelled when called upon by his country. But Page believes certain players - including Rodon - can go to a "different level" if they play regular football.
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"In an ideal world, we want our players playing week-in and week-out but we’ve done alright up to now," said Page. "We’ve always had that sort of scenario where the players are turning up on camp, they’re not playing at club level but when they put the jersey on, they go and give an unbelievable performance and because of those performances, it’s why we are sat here today talking about the World Cup, so I’m not overly concerned about it.
"I’m going to use Joe Rodon as an example. I think Joe’s been outstanding. What he’s done in the games he has played for us has been exceptional, considering he’s not playing at club level.
"I think he can go to another level. He’s been very good, but I think there’s more to come from him. And I think he can achieve that by playing week-in and week-out at domestic level.
"He’s a Premiership player. If you were to draw a Premiership player, it’s Joe Rodon to a T, isn’t it? He’s got all the attributes, but he just needs to be playing week in and week out to sustain that level that he’s been giving us.”
