With Wales qualifying for their first World Cup finals in most peoples lifetimes, Gareth Bale will now need to be finding a new club after his departure from Real Madrid in order to maintain his fitness before the finals start in Quatar in the Winter.

Could Gareth Bale be about to make a return to the club where it all started for him is the question on many Saints fans lips and is indeed picking up momentum across the web.

After Wales win over Ukraine yesterday Gareth Bale looks set to extend his playing career for at least another season in order to maintain his fitness in the lead up to the finals.

Money will surely not be the priority for the player, after earning £564 k per week at Real Madrid for the past 5 years he can't be short of a bob or two, his priority has to be finishing his career with a flourish in the World Cup Finals.

Turning 33 on 16th July he will perhaps not be a target for any of the big clubs, although Newcastle might be keen to be seen as making a big name signing so I wouldn't rule them out.

Tottenham Hotspur are also a name in the race, he returned their for the 20/21 season but started just 10 games in the Premier League with another 10 off the bench, he scored 11 goals which looks good on the stats, but he scored 6 of them in his last 6 games for the club including a hat trick against Sheffield United and an equalising goal against Saints in our 2-1 defeat in North London when Danny Ings had given us a half time lead.

So his time back at Spurs was a case of mixed results and he might feel hit time there is done.

Which brings us back to a return to St Mary's where he started his career in spectacular style, after making two appearances at the tail end of 2005/06 season, he started the following campaign with two brilliant free kick goals at Derby on the opening day and then Coventry at St Mary's.

In total he would play 40 League games, all in the Championship and all starts for the club , scoring 5 goals, in his final game he was kicked off the park in a 2-1 play off final first leg defeat at St Mary's against Derby County and he missed the second leg won by Saints on but lost on penalties.

So perhaps he might feel it appropriate to finish his career at the place where it all started.

Against that is Saints transfer strategy that is broadly based on signing players who are 27 or younger and have a sell on fee, but it should also be noted that Saints did sign Theo Walcott permanently after a year on loan, so are not totally against breaking that rule if it makes financial sense.

Some would point to Walcott as a reason why we should not sign Bale, but that would be unfair, Bale is a far better player than Walcott and although he fell out of favour at Real Madrid he has shown he can still do it at International level.

Also Southampton Football Club need to make a strong statement to their fans, there is much disgruntlement rightly or wrongly in the fan base and they would like to see something that would excite them and rejuvenate their enthusiasm after two seasons that promised much but both fell away in the final third.

So would you like to see Gareth Bale return to the club ? Vote now in our on line poll using the link below.

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/members//polls/2798/would-you

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 11:31 - Jun 6 Crazy idea . ..but why not?. Gareth needs some training and a bit of regular game time before the World Cup. He's surely set-up for life already, and won't necessarily be looking to get a £600K /week - and to be fair, he might just enjoy coming back to his footballing roots - for one season. YES - It didn't work out for Theo, but Gareth is another type of fish in "our little pool" .

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Centurion added 11:36 - Jun 6 We need a leader on the pitch. Gareth Bale would provide that.
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wessexman added 12:26 - Jun 6 I think nostalgia and emotion should be left out of the decision. Walcott may well prove a good warning. Do we want the Ox back as well? What ever sort of salary Bale would command, it needs to be earned. Very tricky one..... Yes, we have lacked leadership ever since Fonte left. Yes, he has a proven goal record. Yes, he has a big game mentality and experience. Ralph....if it is his decision to make needs to deliberate this one very, very carefully.

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landsdownsaint added 12:47 - Jun 6 Who would take the free kicks ?
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ElijahK added 13:03 - Jun 6 I mean it’s just rumours but at the same time if any teams got a decent chance of getting him, I’d certainly put us up there. As he won’t be joining any European team as he’s too old, and if he does sign a contract it’ll only be for 1/2 seasons, so they won’t be that interneted. And for clubs our size, well he’d know he’d get played every game here, as well as us having a connection to him, so as long we pod what he wanted wage wise, then I don’t see why we’d struggle against any of them. And then for lower teams like Cardiff, yes he may get more popularity there, but he wants to do well with wales at the World Cup, and to do that he needs to be playing well against international players, which he won’t get much of in the championship, but will get loads of in the prem. But for all those comparing this to Chamberlyn and Walcott, those two were decent players in their prime, but they weren’t world class ones playing for arguably the biggest team in the world, and winning multiple champions leagues! As there’s a tad bit of a difference between being a team player in an FA cup winning season to being one of the stars in a champions league one. So it’s a definite yes from me for whether or not we should go for him.

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darthvader added 13:28 - Jun 6 Yes please . And let him have the odd free kick but not all of them as jwp is the best in the biz . I doubt it will happen though . But we can dream
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Benali_Saint added 13:32 - Jun 6 I'd sign him in a heartbeat Head and shoulders above anything else we have in his position in the squad
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IanRC added 13:34 - Jun 6 Sorry, not forgiven him for joining Spurs who whilst they were paying his wages took a government loan and laid off lower paid workers.
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WestSussexSaint added 13:45 - Jun 6 I watched the Wales/Ukraine game last and I thought Bale was poor. Too many misplaced flicks and passes which nullified Wales’ attacks. Even his free kick “goal” was more down to the defensive header and we have a decent set piece taker already. He is injury prone and at 33 any injury takes longer to get back to fitness. If we were signing the Bale of 5 years ago then no problem but the Bale of today looks like another Walcott type signing.

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SaintNick added 15:03 - Jun 6 IanRC I see your point about Spurs, but that wasn't Bale's fault it was the clubs
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Colburn added 16:22 - Jun 6 He would not be coming here to play for the badge. He won't want to get injured.. Not the ideal standard to set for a squad who already have question marks over their hunger and desire over the last couple of month as they slid towards the leagues depths, fortunately the season wasn't 2 weeks longer. I'm sorry, it sounds in some ways romantic but the reality is it would be a terrible decision, one made purely to aid Bale in being fit for the world cup. For me it's a crazy idea for a club identity based around fitness, energy and the desire to press high up the pitch I really don't see how he could fit into our plans. We are staring at an unpleasant relegation battle from August and there's no space for freeloaders playing at half tilt for 3 months then doing the off!

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Colburn added 16:27 - Jun 6 I don't recall Bale giving those lower paid workers anything when the nuts n bolts of his Spurs transfer developed.. Nick, I don't believe he would have cared one iota about that and the players and their agents are not naive.
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Jesus_02 added 17:44 - Jun 6 Depends on wages but if he is seriously considering Cardiff I dnt think that would be an issue. I think if he wanted to come for a season it would be a no brainer in all honesty. He would probably be a draw for other players to join also.
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JoeEgg added 11:08 - Jun 7 "I'm sorry, it sounds in some ways romantic but the reality is it would be a terrible decision" Just underlining the truth of the situation and could really do with directing everyone to Colburn's comments! It doesn't look as if there is to be a change in Manager and as of now the coaching staff is virtually non-existent. A relegation battle is still the order of the day and at the moment I cant see anything changing.

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felly1 added 11:46 - Jun 7 My brother in laws best friend has apparently spotted Bale and Ralph in Poppins Cafe in town. Both enjoying a cheese toastie and having a nice time.
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underweststand added 15:20 - Jun 8 (to felly 1..that's a new one) It used to be ..the taxi driver who picked him up from Central Station or Eastleigh Airport and drove him to SMS , (or) his hotel... BUT times change ... nowadays it's the guy who drove the truck that towed away his Porsche for being wrongly parked. (haha)
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