Gareth Bale retires | Begins his golf career next month

SilentWitness said:
Fair enough. No point destroying his body any further. 3 La Ligas and 5 CLs. Not bad.
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Exactly. In this day and age, 33 is fairly young to be retiring and many might be questioning why this early. But if you look at the injury record he has and how his body must be aching having to train at the level needed to play professionally still, why play any longer!

What a career, healthy bank balance and time to go and enjoy some golf - well deserved
 
bond19821982 said:
We should have signed him from Southampton. Not his loss as he got his move to Real and won trophies there. We could have gotten our new 11.
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Didn't we try to sign him but Southampton basically ignored our bid?
 
Bale's achievements will be looked at more reasonably now I'd say, he was right in the middle of the era (and club) where every top player's greatness was measured agaisnt Ronaldo and Messi.
 
horsechoker said:
It's weird that Bale has retired before Messi and Ronaldo. By the time Bale reached his peak, Messi and Ron had been world class for years.
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Goes to show what it takes to stay on top for such a long time. That said, Bale’s had a brilliant career - hats off to him!
 
5 CL medals. Scorer of the greatest CL final goal ever. Scorer of one of the greatest hat-tricks ever (away against the reigning CL Champions, making several of the best defenders of their generation look like mugs repeatedly). Took Wales to a first World Cup since the world was in black and white.

Not a bad little career.
 
is he the greatest welsh player ever along with John Charles?
 
Great player and a great career, shame how it ended but atleast he had good time.

The way he transformed game was unreal, from attacking left back to left winger to goal scoring wide forward. He was good in all 3 attacking positions.
 
Strange time to retire but let's face it, he's been semi retired for about 5 years now. Don't blame him for hanging on for a bit more cash though, might as well, you're a long time retired in football.
 
We need an rvn said:
Exactly. In this day and age, 33 is fairly young to be retiring and many might be questioning why this early. But if you look at the injury record he has and how his body must be aching having to train at the level needed to play professionally still, why play any longer!

What a career, healthy bank balance and time to go and enjoy some golf - well deserved
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For the love of football? Most pros are depressed after they have to quit playing. He obviously fell out of love of football for quite a while. Fair enough
 
Despite some complications still was top player in both strongest leagues.

Especially that Spurs version of Bale could help United a lot after SAF era.
 
Good luck with life after football Bale, happy retirement

You have a tremendous career as a footballer. A real deal of talent, and possibly one of the greatest(if not the greatest) Wales footballers of all time.
 
Tremendous player in his day. Always felt that he actually had even more potential. Will miss him. Was an entertaining player.
 
horsechoker said:
Joint 2nd highest
Paco Gento6Real Madrid
Cristiano Ronaldo5Man Utd, Real Madrid
Alessandro Costacurta5AC Milan
Paolo Maldini5AC Milan
Hector Rial5Real Madrid
Marquitos5Real Madrid
Lesmes II5Real Madrid
Enrique Mateos5Real Madrid
Alfredo di Stefano5Real Madrid
Jose Maria Zarraga5Real Madrid
Gareth Bale5Real Madrid
Nacho5Real Madrid
Daniel Carvajal5Real Madrid
Isco5Real Madrid
Luka Modric5Real Madrid
Marcelo5Real Madrid
Casemiro5Real Madrid
Karim Benzema5Real Madrid
Toni Kroos5Real Madrid
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Toni Kroos won 4 with Real and 1 with Bayern Munchen.
 
FriedClams said:
One of the most underappreciated footballers of all time. Staggering list of achievements and I don't remember too many players shitting all over the PL the way he did at spurs before he went to Real.
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Hard to recall what players did when in actuality they won nothing. He was good at Spurs but left with nothing to show for it, Kane is their current example. At least Bale saw he’d grown too big for them ;)
 
He was an excellent player, unplayable on his day.

Some level of respect to him too for giving the two fingers to Real and Bogarding his way through that contract. That was nice.
 
What a player in his prime. I'm glad to see him retire though after that world cup performance. It was tough to watch him so far off the pace.

Still, the guys had a terrific career at both club and national level. He lifted our national team up singlehandedly at times.
 
I was surprised but after looking at the minutes he had in the MLS seems reasonable. Couldn't even start there, he was always injury prone so fair play retiring at this point instead of stealing a couple years more.
 
Possibly the 2nd greatest British player in the last 25-30 years and the greatest Welsh player ever.

Had his relations with RM fans not turned sour, he'd have been remembered a lot more positively
 
Good for Bale, he could have hung around the game and earned millions more, but instead, he has obviously gone I have enough cash and there are other things i'd rather be doing it's time to enjoy life! Very intelligent decision!
 
Absolute legend and feel spoilt I got to watch him play for wales
 
Hazard should follow him. Both careers took complete nose dives with injuries.

Anyway look forward to seeing him at the next PGA event.
 
Great player and won a lot with Madrid. You could argue though he didn't have a lot of contributions in most of those wins despite some standout moments.
 
End of an era for Wales. Been an absolute pleasure watching and supporting him over the years, he's given us so many good memories. Undoubtedly the best and most important player for Wales during my lifetime.

Happy retirement.
 
Great player. I think he could have done more for the legacy. It seems to me that Real Madrid transfer broke him little and his love for football.
 
Red_toad said:
Hard to recall what players did when in actuality they won nothing. He was good at Spurs but left with nothing to show for it, Kane is their current example. At least Bale saw he’d grown too big for them ;)
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There was a half season period where every other game he was smashing it in from 30 yards and had a turn of pace that Adama Traore would have been proud of.
Won nothing at spurs obviously but was one hell of a player at that time.
 
He should have stayed at left back but I guess he did okay becoming a forward.
 
UpWithRivers said:
For the love of football? Most pros are depressed after they have to quit playing. He obviously fell out of love of football for quite a while. Fair enough
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I think you’re being harsh.

he loved playing for wales and his move to the mls was to make sure he was fit enough to play in the wc.

But his body has been wrecked by injuries and the love he received from the Madrid supporters over the years has been shocking - but why leave when you’re being paid as much as he was and I’d have done the same if I were in hisboots
 
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