By Noel Whelan

3rd May, 2021 | 5:00pm

Whelan: 'It's no secret' what's really been going on at Tottenham

Tottenham were free of Jose Mourinho’s ‘shackles’ as they breezed past Sheffield United on Sunday night. 

That’s according to former Leeds United hitman Noel Whelan, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about Spurs’ latest win.

Gareth Bale netted a hattrick before a Heung-Min Son goal wrapped up a 4-0 win.

It was arguably Bale’s best performance during his second spell at Tottenham as he struggled under Mourinho’s leadership.

Mourinho was sacked two weeks ago, just days after Tottenham threw away an early lead to draw at Everton.

Whelan insists that Spurs will see the best of Bale now Mourinho is gone and claimed he was ‘too Jose’ in his dealings with some players.

“There’s no secret that some players didn’t get on with Mourinho,” Whelan told Football Insider correspondent Dylan Childs.

“Bale is one, [Dele] Alli is another. We all knew that if Bale came in he needed minutes to get that match fitness. 

“Something wasn’t right between him and Mourinho, it was a clash of personalities. 

“Mourinho was too confident, a bit too Jose. We know what he’s like. There was always going to be some fragility between those two strong characters. 

“Now you see the freedom Bale played with [against Sheffield United], it was unenjoyable to watch with Mourinho.

“Tottenham should be exciting to watch, they go forward, they’ve got flair players, I just don’t think he could express himself under Mourinho. 

“They’ve been restricted with shackles on them, that didn’t suit the players.”

Bale, 31, has 14 goals in 30 appearances for Spurs this season.

He joined his former club on loan from Real Madrid in the summer after falling out of favour with Zinedine Zidane.

In other news, Tottenham line up move for English striker with more goals than Kane in the last two seasons.