The former Tottenham forward almost made an incredible move to Cardiff City last year before announcing his retirement from all forms of football
Cardiff City's chairman Mehmet Dalman has admitted to feeling 'embarrassed' over not being able to secure a deal to bring former Tottenham star Gareth Bale out of retirement and to the Cardiff City Stadium last year.
The 34-year-old, who since leaving Spurs in 2013 has played for Real Madrid in Spain and Major League Soccer side LAFC, had been in talks of a shock move to multiple Welsh clubs ever since he joined LAFC back in June 2022 on a one-year deal.
One of those was the Bluebirds, who have been struggling to stay afloat in the Championship in recent seasons, but he was also heavily linked to a move to newly-promoted Wrexham AFC who are owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Former Real Madrid forward Bale had held talks with Cardiff in the months leading up to his retirement announcement but they ended up falling through and the star went on to hang up his boots.
Cardiff have since picked themselves up a Wales national team legend in the form of ex-Arsenal star Aaron Ramsey, who had started his career with the Bluebirds back in 2006. However, chairman Dalman was unable to convince Ramsey's international teammate to join him at the Cardiff City Stadium - something he regrets.
"It's a bit embarrassing for me to admit it, but I thought we'd done a deal with Gareth Bale," Dalman told BBC Sport over the weekend.
"I met Aaron face to face. That enables you to take a view on his real attitude. He didn't send agents making demands, he did the negotiations himself.
"We had a cup of coffee, he said 'I'd love to play for Cardiff' and we said 'We'd love to have you'."
After two games in the Championship so far this season, Cardiff sit 17th, having drawn 2-2 on the opening day to former Premier League side Leeds United before losing 2-1 to Queens Park Rangers over the weekend.