If reports by The Athletic’s David Ornstein are to be believed, Real Madrid star Gareth Bale could announce his retirement at the end of this season. The Welshman’s current contract, which gets him 33 million euros per year from Los Blancos, will expire at the end of this season and the 32-year-old was becoming increasingly likely to exit the club.
This isn’t the first time Bale has been rumored to quit professional football. The same was speculated during the Euro 2020 that the player will quit football after Wales’ campaign comes to an end. But it wasn’t to be the case, and he returned to Madrid after completing his eight-month loan spell at Tottenham.
He has remained out of consideration under Carlo Ancelotti, having played just three league games and making no appearances in the Champions League. Since joining Real in a world-record deal from Spurs back in 2013, Bale was a pivotal cog of the side that won four Champions League titles starting from 2013/14. He also scored in the final of a Champions League three times, only Cristiano Ronaldo has more (4).
Despite being one of the most flashy and attractive players of this generation, the winger struggled to cope with life in Spain and was often riddled with injuries. This often left a lot of managers frustrated, and reuniting with the boss who signed him back in the day for Real was seen as a revival prospect, but that wasn’t to be the case.
Bale scored 106 times for the club since joining in 2013. In his very first season, he scored 22 times across all competitions to propel the side to a Copa Del Rey title, alongside the Champions League win. He scored in both those finals, and instantly became a star in the Spanish capital. He formed a spectacular trio with Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, netting 97 times amongst each other that season.
In the coming years, the number of appearances started coming down and his output wasn’t as brilliant as the fans wanted. There was constant trouble between him and the fans to further the dispute, making his life really difficult. He was shipped to Spurs at the start of the 2020/21 season on loan, where he got together with Jose Mourinho, a manager who was desperate to sign him for Manchester United.
He scored 11 goals in La Liga and 16 across all tournaments but was called back in June 2021, when Ancelotti was asked to re-join Madrid after the departure of Zinedine Zidane. It comes as no surprise that the Welsh footballer is considering hanging up his boots, but there is an underlying clause to it according to The Athletic.
Ornstein reported that the player is considering retirement only if his national team fails to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Wales had come second in their qualification group to Belgium and played some very impressive football throughout the tournament.
They will be facing Austria on their path to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in the qualification play-offs. If they clear that hurdle, they will play against the winner of Scotland and Ukraine, meaning there is every chance for Wales to enter their first World Cup since the great Jimmy Murphy drove them to the quarterfinals in the 1958 edition.
Despite having some of the biggest names in the coming generations like Ian Rush, Ryan Giggs among others, Wales have always found it difficult to break into the final 32 of the World Cup. They have found great shape under manager Giggs, who propelled them to four wins out of the eight group stage games they played and lost just one.
Bale’s rise to fame started when he joined Southampton youth academy in 1999. He made his first-team debut in the Premier League in 2006 and quickly made a move to Tottenham a year later. He went on to become one of the greatest Spurs players of all time, scoring 55 times and driving them into Champions League.
