Decisions looming: Gareth Bale could retire if Wales do not qualify for the World Cup in Qatar
(Picture: Getty Images)In August, Gareth Bale gave an interview to the Observer which was almost comical in its non-committal blandness.
Even by the standards of professional footballers, Bale managed to give very little away over the course of 16 quick-fire questions.
He answered “nothing” to queries about what made him unhappy and what he would change about his past, and revealed he “wouldn’t want anyone else” to play him in a biopic.
Asked what he had wanted to be when growing up, Bale, who appeared to be promoting Rowbots gym, said: “I just wanted to fulfil my potential.”
There was almost nothing to be gleaned about Bale the man, his motivations or desires, but one answer, perhaps, did contain a degree of poignancy. Asked for his greatest fear, Bale replied: “Not being the best version of myself. In football and in life.”
Bale is one of the finest and most successful British players of his generation, maybe of all time, but there is still a case that he has not been the “best version” of himself on the pitch in recent years.
He has played just two hours of football for Real Madrid in the past six months and last started more than 15 League games in a season in 2018-19.
Whatever the true circumstances of Bale’s Real purgatory, these are clearly not the statistics of a player determined to squeeze every last drop from his talent.
Bale almost single-handedly dragging Wales through their World Cup play-off against Austria last week proved he is still one of the sport’s ultimate clutch players and foremost magicians, but it is intriguing to compare him to his former Real team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo. Both are sublimely gifted players, but Ronaldo has maintained an unquenchable thirst for goals, records and the limelight, which is no longer shared by Bale, at least at club level.
Instead, the 32-year-old’s focus has been reduced to the singular goal of reaching the World Cup with Wales, to the point where he is considering retirement immediately after the tournament and could hang up his boots in June if they do not qualify.
For anyone who has enjoyed Bale’s brilliance over the years, there is a degree of frustration in knowing that he is still good enough to elevate this stodgy Real side to another level, as he has done for his country. He could have been the club’s post-Ronaldo inspiration.
This is seemingly part of the reason for the bile spewed at Bale by the Spanish media. He has seen Real for what they really are — questionable employers and a big business — and by refusing to play their game, he has not only humiliated them, he has fundamentally weakened them.
And, given Bale’s well-documented treatment in Spain, why shouldn’t he?
Bale, do not forget, worked every bit as hard as Ronaldo to reach the top, transforming himself from a skinny left-back, who was nearly released by Southampton and then nearly sold by Tottenham to Birmingham, into one of the world’s most explosive forwards, at one point behind only the Portuguese and Lionel Messi.
If his fire no longer burns so brightly, that is understandable and okay. To despise Bale for wanting to enjoy the fruits of his labours or to scold him for not maintaining a laser-focus on self-improvement would be to hold footballers to dramatically different standards to everyone else.
For players, football is a job, the game is a professional environment and, for the majority, their clubs are employers rather than passion projects.
How many of us would continue to give our all in the twilight of our careers in a profession where we had already reached the top, achieved almost everything possible, if we then found ourselves saddled with an employer who did not really want us and a succession of bosses who sided with our detractors?
In an age when we are increasingly told to enjoy ourselves and maintain a proper work-life balance, Bale appears to be doing just that as he winds down his Real contract, all while continuing to reach extraordinary levels for Wales.
Having achieved what he has for Real, Bale has earned the right to disengage from the club’s psychodrama: to play golf, to spend time with his family, to prioritise his country, to give bland interviews and to promote rowing machines. This may not be the best version of Bale “in football”, but perhaps it is “in life”, which is ultimately more important.
