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