Early retirement for the Welsh wizard – James Calvert

I was extremely sad to see Gareth Bale, after a distinguished and remarkable career, retire from football last week.

Okay, fair enough, the official story is that the Welsh captain has signed a deal to play for Los Angeles FC. But for a player of his stature, with a clutch of Champions League winners medals and La Liga titles under his belt, that is about as close to retirement as you can get without actually hanging up your boots and slipping on a pair of comfy loafers.

To be fair to the lad, there is a lot of logic in his decision to move to America. For example, the reality is that he will get a lot more game time in the US than he would if he had signed for a major European team. And that’s a no-brainer for him with Qatar coming up.

Just as importantly, the American season conveniently runs up until just before the World Cup, meaning he should be in peak fitness for the tournament. And captaining Wales in their first appearance at the finals for 64 years is Bale’s overriding ambition.

However, I can’t shake off the nagging feeling that he is maybe calling time on his top-level club career a bit too early. Cristiano Ronaldo is still going strong at what, 87 (sic), and Bale,...