Gareth Bale's agent has branded suggestions he could reverse his retirement to join Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's Wrexham "tongue-in-cheek".
Reynolds and McElhenney have both asked Bale to come out of retirement and join Wrexham, who recently earned promotion back to the Football League. After Bale congratulated the club on its success, McElhenney asked on Twitter : "Hey @GarethBale11 let's play golf, where I totally won't spend 4 hours trying to convince you to un-retire for one last magical season."
Bale then teased he might be open to the move, responding that it "depends what course" they play on. That then prompted Deadpool star Reynolds to weigh in as he shared a mocked up picture of Bale in a Wrexham shirt.
Although the former Real Madrid star later said he had no plans to come out of retirement, Wrexham's co-owners did not give up as McElhenney made a fresh plea to Bale earlier this month. In an appearance on The Aarthi & Sriram Show, McElhenney said: "Gareth, okay – just you and me talking here for a second.
"I know Southern California is beautiful and I know, because I'm from Philadelphia and I've lived here for many many years. But you're a young man, and you have the rest of your life to live wherever you want. But, if you could just come back for one last year of glory – one last year – I believe your nation, the nation of Wales, is counting on you to do the right thing. Call me."
However, Bale's long-time agent Jonathan Barnett says his client simply "doesn't want to play football anymore". When asked about the offer, Barnett told Sky Sports: "He's flattered by the offers, but they're all tongue-in-cheek. He's having a great life at the moment and [it is] well-deserved, he's been the best British footballer probably ever.
"He's now having a well-deserved rest. They [Reynolds and McElhenney] haven't actually spoken to me, they may have spoken to Gareth but Gareth doesn't want to play football anymore. He's had a great career and he's enjoyed himself, but he's having a great life now.
"He's with his family which is the most important thing. He's spending a lot of time with his children and that's what he wants to do." Barnett also said Bale's decision to retire following the 2022 World Cup at the age of just 33 did not come as a shock due to his struggles with injury in the final years of his career.
"He'd been discussing it for a long time and, for him, it was the right time," Barnett explained. "He's achieved everything he wanted to achieve. He's played for Wales at the highest level, the World Cup, which is what he really wanted to do and I think he knew his body wasn't really up to it anymore. He'd had a hard time with his body the last few years and now he's a different person."
