Bale staking claim to rank with the Best
WHO is the greatest footballer Great Britain has ever produced? It is a question that sparks debate and divides opinion.
Sir Bobby Charlton, the best English player of all time, would have an army of supporters, so too would George Best, the Belfast Boy who inspired generations. Kenny Dalglish, Scotland’s finest, has to enter the argument, as does Ryan Giggs, the game’s most decorated player. I rate them each as the best their country has ever produced.
They all helped take their clubs to levels of glory that had never been seen, while Charlton went one step further. He recently lost his goals record but his status as a World Cup winner is safe.
If those are the qualities by which we define greatness, Gareth Bale’s claims for being included in this argument continue to get stronger all the time. He is not at the level of those four giants but the way he is going, he will end his career firmly alongside them.
History beckons for Bale and Wales. A point in Bosnia today will see them qualify for Euro 2016. Should the worst come to the worst and they lose for the first time in Group B, there will be no anxiety. They will not lose their final match at home to Andorra.
It is some achievement for this squad of players, particularly when you think of some of the stars of Welsh football — Ian Rush, Neville Southall, Giggs and Mark Hughes — who never got the chance to play at a major tournament.
Critics will say it has never been easier to qualify for the European Championship but that should not detract from what Wales have done; even if it had been a 16-team finals, they would still have been going to France as one of the top two in their group.
The role Bale has played, however, cannot be overlooked. His six goals and two assists have been directly responsible for 11 of the 18 points Wales have collected — no other player in qualifying can get close to that tally.
He is only 26 and, with 52 appearances and 18 goals so far, he is firmly on course to become both his country’s leading scorer and cap holder; Rush (28 goals) and Southall (92 caps) currently hold those records.
Yet Bale’s claims to greatness run much deeper. He is one of only five players to be crowned PFA Player of the Year twice ( Hughes, Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo are the others) and he was the reason Tottenham qualified for the Champions League.
His electric performances against Inter Milan in 2010 still get spoken about to this day and they were one of the reasons Real Madrid paid a world-record £86million fee for him two years ago.
He has come so far since making his way at Southampton. When he broke into their team, Rafa Benitez looked at signing him for Liverpool. Bale was playing as a left back then and Rafa didn’t think he was any better than John Arne Riise, so he never pursued it. Clearly the Bale that Benitez now manages is a completely different prospect. Bale has been a success in Madrid, his stunning solo goal against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final and the header that gave Real the lead against Atletico Madrid as they pursued their 10th European Cup were both moments that only the special ones produce. To ensure he is truly on a par with the men I mentioned earlier, Bale’s next challenge is to take a team to a league title or win a Champions League. I know he’s won that competition but Ronaldo was the real driving force in that campaign. For all the sparkle at Tottenham, there was no silverware.
Now he’s at the best club in the world, you may wonder why he would ever want to leave. But with Ronaldo looking as if he will stay in Madrid for another three years, will Bale ever be the main man? Can you imagine his standing in our game if he came back and had a Cantonalike effect on United or took City or Chelsea to Champions League success? Regardless, he’d be the best player in the Premier League without a doubt.
Is he good enough to take a team to European domination, just as Dalglish did? I believe he is. What he has helped Wales achieve is remarkable. Should he back it up with even greater displays at club level, entry to the pantheon awaits.
Let me know what you think. I’ll try to answer your questions each week. Leave your comments at www.mailonline.
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