By Promise Eze
Gareth Bale, Wales’s all-time leading goalscorer and a five-times Champions League winner with Real Madrid, has announced his retirement from football.
He made this known on his Twitter handle on Monday.
Bale, one of Britain’s most decorated players, has stepped away from the game midway through his contract at Los Angeles FC, which was due to expire this summer.
In a statement on the bluebird app, he mentioned that his decision to retire from onternational football has been, by far, the hardest of his career.
“How do I describe what being a part of this country and team means to me? How do I articulate the impact it has had on my life? How do I put into words the way I felt, every single time I put on that Welsh shirt? My answer is that I couldn’t possibly do any of those things justice. simply with words. But I know that every person involved in Welsh football, feels the magic, and is impacted in such a powerful and unique way, so now you feel what I feel, without using any words at all.
“My journey on the international stage is one that has changed not only my life but who I am. The fortune of being Welsh and being selected to play for and captain Wales, has given me something incomparable to anything else I’ve experienced. I am honoured and humbled to have been able to play a part in the history of this incredible country, to have felt the support and passion of the red wall, and together have been to unexpected and amazing places.
“I shared a dressing room with boys that became brothers, and backroom staff that became family. I played for the most incredible managers, and felt the undying support and love from the most dedicated fans in the world. Thank you to every one of you for being on this journey with me.
“So for now I am stepping back, but not away from the team that lives in me and runs through my veins. After all, the dragon on my shirt is all I need,” the statement read.
Bale started at Southampton, making his debut aged 16, and spent six years at Tottenham before joining Madrid in 2013 for a then world-record £85m fee.
