Gareth Bale will make a decision on his long-term future after Wales’ World Cup decider this summer amid widespread interest in the Real Madrid star.
Despite barely featuring for his club this term, Bale produced a heroic display to score two goals against Austria in Cardiff to set up a clash with Scotland or Ukraine – probably in June – with the winner qualifying for Qatar 2022.
Bale’s contract in Spain, worth about £600,000 per week, expires at the end of the season. His agent Jonathan Barnett told Sportsmail that Bale, who turns 33 in July, is a wanted man but his camp will sit tight until they know whether Wales have reached their first World Cup since 1958.
‘We have had a lot of interest in him but we have not done anything,’ said Barnett. ‘After June we will discuss what we want to do.
‘I have been saying for years he is one of Britain’s greatest, most successful sports stars. If he hasn’t had the credit he deserves, it’s because he doesn’t speak much publicly. He is a quiet lad but I don’t understand why he hasn’t been treated better.’
Bale, meanwhile, hit back in his increasingly bitter battle with the Spanish media, after an article prior to Wales’ meeting with Austria labelled him a ‘parasite’.
Writing on his social media channels, Bale described the article as ‘slanderous, derogatory and speculative’.
