Gareth Bale earns £9k a minute on pitch and £28k a pass at Tottenham as Mourinho leaves £325k-a-week winger on bench

GARETH BALE is costing Tottenham a small fortune - mostly to simply sit on the bench.

The Welsh winger, 31, returned to Spurs last summer on a season-long loan after being frozen out at Real Madrid.

But Bale has spent most of the time slumped on the bench.

On Thursday night, the former most-expensive player in the world was left to rot on the sideline as Tottenham lost 1-0 at home to Chelsea.

Jose Mourinho opted to introduce Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela over Bale, with the Welshman grimacing after being informed of the decision.

Bale is now quickly becoming an expensive mistake for not only Real Madrid, but Spurs too.

The ex-Southampton star earns a jaw-dropping £650,000 at the Bernabeu, with Tottenham agreeing to pay half of those wages this season.

But even at 'half-price' - a staggering £325,000 - Bale is proving horrendously pricey.

In fact, he's cost the club £6.5MILLION in wages alone so far.

Having scored just four times in all competitions this season, Bale's goals are coming at £1.3m apiece.

FRIDAY NIGHT POKER: Play TONIGHT at 8pm to win a share of $5,500

1

Most read in Football

JIM BIG TROUBLE

Man Utd staring £10million black hole in the face as Ratcliffe cuts costs

RON THE MOVE?

Ronaldo opens door to shock Man City transfer with cryptic reply to question

OLD BUT GOLD

Inside world's oldest football stadium which still hosts games after 164 years

WIFE MATERIAL

Cristiano Ronaldo's slip of the tongue sparks Georgina relationship rumours

The winger is costing £650,000 per chances created and £28,000 per PASS.

In fact, having played just 785 minutes, Tottenham are paying £9,000 per minute of Bale action.

Mourinho was asked why Bale failed to come off the bench in the loss to Chelsea.

But the Portuguese boss simply said: "Good question, but you don’t deserve an answer."

Tottenham next face West Brom on Sunday, with kick-off 12pm.