When Tottenham Hotspur announced that Gareth Bale had signed a new four-year contract in June, it raised a few eyebrows, because the majority expected the Welsh winger to leave White Hart Lane, just like his former teammate Luka Modric.
However, the former Southampton youngster insisted leaving Spurs never crossed his mind, despite being linked with the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid. When asked if he thought about signing for another team this summer, Bale said: "No. I've always been focused on my game, playing football, and I'm enjoying myself here at the moment so there's no reason to go anywhere.
"I'm enjoying my football, we've got a great squad now and hopefully next season we can get Champions League football, where we should be."
Spurs, under new manager Andre Villas-Boas had struggled to get results in the first three games of the English Premier League, with the crowd booing their team after a disappointing 1-1 draw against Norwich. However, the North London side put in a more assured performance against Reading on the weekend, and Bale believes the new state-of-the-art training complex that has been opened has given a huge boost to the players' confidence.
"We didn't have a great start last year and we were in a similar position this year," he said. "We went on a run last season and there's no reason why we can't do it this year.
"It feels like a new club at the moment with the new training ground. It has excited everybody, and has brought everybody up again."
Villas-Boas has been put under intense scrutiny at White Hart Lane, after his less than successful stint with Chelsea last season. Bale has no doubts, though, about the Portuguese manager's capabilities and believes Spurs will go from strength to strength as the season goes on. "I haven't heard anything about (Villas-Boas') future," Bale said. "He's here to build a team and it's a new way of playing for us, compared to last season.
"It does take time. Everybody should understand that. There has been an improvement in every game and you saw that at Reading. Everybody just has to be patient. Things will come and it'll start to click like it did yesterday (Sunday) and, hopefully, we can push on from there.
"Everyone feels fresh again and we've got the new signings now, which is great. We've got a stronger squad now than we did at the start of the season. Our plan is to win every game and we'll be trying to do that."
Bale also reserved special praise for new signing Moussa Dembele and is positive the Belgian can replace Modric, who signed for Real Madrid. "Mousa's come in and he's been absolutely fantastic," Bale added.
"He scored on his debut, played unbelievable against Reading and he's been a great addition to the squad. Obviously it's not nice to see your big players go but I'm sure he can fill his (Modric's) boots and more."