There is no way you can say Bale was a much much better player, he was 17 and playing in the championship vs Barkley who has established himself in the PL, you can't even compare the two situations I was just using that as an example of paying for potential - it was a lot at the time for a 17 year old who's highest level was the Championship.Even those that rate him in this thread admit that he doesn't use his brain.
His defensive efforts are non-existent, his decision making is wrong more than it's right, he regularly runs into blind corners and gets dispossessed. Even his fans are saying that he'll be good if we can get him to drop that from his game.
So it's not just my opinion, it's that of plenty of other Spurs fans, every Everton fan I've ever heard from and it's backed up by statistics. The only people who don't seem to share that opinion are the likes of Shearer and his "English = better" lot.
As you mention him, Bale cost £5m up front from memory - in today's money around £15m. And Bale was much, much better when he was at SCBC than Barkley is now, probably better than he ever will be.
As for Barkley you don't create the number of chances he does if you don't have some form of footballing brain. Yes he is rough around the edges, but to just dismiss him as being pretty much brainless footballing wise is ridiculous considering his obvious ability....