In 2010, no player emerged from virtually nowhere quite like Gareth Bale. Injuries and the form of others had kept the Welshman out of the first-team at Tottenham Hotspur until he capitalised on the absence of Benoit Assou-Ekotto at left-back early in the year.
His move forward into the left-wing position and the subsequent performances ignited the club's charge into the Champions League.
It was in that competition that Bale alerted the wider football world to his talent with, in particular, a duo of sensational performances in the group stage against Inter Milan.
