Gareth Bale will reportedly retire from club football once his £600,000-a-week deal with Real Madrid expires next summer – but will return for Wales’ 2022 World Cup campaign in one last hurrah.
The Welshman has one year left to run on his contract at the Bernabeu and sent fans into a frenzy before Euro 2020 by claiming it would ’cause chaos’ if he revealed what his plans were.
Now, according to The Mirror, with Wales’ journey at Euro 2020 coming to an end after their 4-0 thumping at the hands of Denmark in the last-16, Bale will hang up his boots at club level next summer before guiding his country in Qatar next winter if they qualify.
Wales have three points from their opening two World Cup qualifying group games after bouncing back from their defeat by Belgium to beat Czech Republic – who are a point in front of them in second place and have played a game more.
Bale and Co will need to finish either in first place to qualify directly for the World Cup finals or finish in second to advance to the second round play-offs.
Following Wales’ exit from the European Championship last month, Bale was asked in the immediate aftermath of the match whether it would be his last appearance for his country amid speculation that he’d be retiring.
A furious Bale, who turns 32 next week, abruptly terminated the post-match interview, making more headlines over his future.
Talk of a potential second loan spell at Tottenham has also been promptly ruled out, with Bale intent on staying in the Spanish capital for the final year of his deal – especially after Carlo Ancelotti replaced Zinedine Zidane, who Bale had publicly fallen out with.
It was an impressive stint in north London, scoring 11 league goals despite only starting 10 times, fuelling speculation over whether he’d stay on for another year.
But according to reports from the Evening Standard, Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett has confirmed that won’t be the case, with one year left on his contract at Los Blancos.
‘As I have said from the beginning, there is no option,’ said Barnett.
‘Gareth has no agreements whatsoever. He is under contract to Real.’
Ancelotti and Bale won the Champions League and Copa del Rey together in the 2013-14 season, and they are expected to hold talks once Bale is back from his holiday following Wales’ last-16 Euros exit.
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