GIGGS’ DELIGHT AT BALE’S BRIGHTER FUTURE AT MADRID
RYAN Giggs has expressed his delight at Gareth Bale forcing his way back into the firstteam reckoning at Real Madrid following his failed move to China.
Zinedine Zidane openly stated that he was keen for the Welshman to leave the Spanish capital in the summer.
Bale was on the brink of a £1m-aweek move to Chinese Super League outfit Jiangsu Suning, although the switch collapsed at the final hurdle.
The 30-year-old pulled out of his side’s pre-season trip to Munich following his failed transfer to China, although he has since returned to action with the La Liga giants and played in his side’s 3-1 win over Celta Vigo last weekend.
And Giggs has revealed he kept in touch with Bale during the course of his turbulent summer on the continent.
“I’m really pleased with the situation at the moment and looking forward to him meeting up,” said Giggs.
“You can’t take anything for granted in football because it can change quite quickly.
“You can be on top of the world and then get an injury or miss a chance and then it turns. Or viceversa. You can go through a bad time and then score a fluke goal and everything turns around.
“You have to work hard, like Gareth. When you do that usually good things happen.
“I kept in touch with him, not every day but just to see if he was all right. It’s obviously positive at the moment.
“He played at the weekend and did really well and it looks like he’s staying now. I’ve always said he’s at a fantastic club, but probably a couple of weeks ago we wouldn’t have seen this situation.
“It was a strange situation, but hopefully now it’s sorted out, Gareth stays and he plays games.”
Giggs admits Bale’s situation in Spain “didn’t quite look right” in the summer, with fans and the Spanish media among those to turn on the Welshman. But the 45-year-old is pleased that Bale’s plight at club level has now been resolved.
“Everyone thought it didn’t quite look right but now it looks like they have sorted their differences out and he’s playing,” he added.
Daniel James was one man who did secure a move in the summer, with the winger joining Manchester United from Swansea City for a fee of £15m that could rise to £18m with add-ons.
The 21-year-old scored on his Premier League debut for the Red Devils against Chelsea and made his first start for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side against Wolves on Monday night.
And the Wales manager – who gave James his international debut against Albania in November – is thrilled with the way the winger has started life at Old Trafford.
“I’ve watched a lot of the pre-season games and he did well in them,” said Giggs.
“It gives me a different option as well if he’s playing his club football on the right-hand side, if I want to do that I can. But he’s done fantastic.
“I was at the game where he scored and even before that he was in a couple of times.
“What I’ve said to my players, you’ve got to play the ball as quick as you can because his movement is very good. As a midfielder I wouldn’t have minded playing behind a player like that.”
PAUL Dummett has called time on his Wales career after manager Ryan Giggs revealed the Newcastle defender made himself unavailable for international duty.
Dummett has won only five caps in a stop-start international career, but Giggs admitted the 27-year-old was in contention to play in next month’s vital Euro 2020 qualifier against Azerbaijan.
Giggs, who has concerns in central defence and left skipper Ashley Williams out of his 26-man squad as the veteran is currently without a club, suggested Dummett’s Wales career was now over.
“I think that will be it,” Giggs said at his squad announcement press conference for the Azerbaijan game in Cardiff on September 6.
“I spoke to Paul and he just really wanted to concentrate on club football.
“He felt he’s had a lot of hamstring problems.
“He’s had hamstring problems earlier this season and just felt he wanted to make sure he was fit for Newcastle.”
Dummett has started Newcastle’s first two Premier League games of the season, defeats against Arsenal and Norwich.
But the Newcastle-born defender has a long history of hamstring problems and failed to make his mark on the international stage.
Dummett won his first cap against Holland in June 2014, but fell out with previous Wales manager Chris Coleman and made himself unavailable for selection in May 2017.
He returned to the Wales set-up under Giggs in January 2018 and
made his final competitive appearance in the Nations League defeat to Denmark the following November.
Dummett’s fifth cap came in the Wrexham friendly victory over Trinidad and Tobago in March.
“He wants to concentrate on club football ,so I’ve got to respect that,” Giggs said.
“I’m not fussed about that. He’s playing in the Premier League, he’s a good defender, but I’ve got options.”
Williams, however, is not one of them for the time being after failing to find a club since his summer release from Everton.
The 86-times capped Williams – the third most capped player in Welsh football history – could complete a move to Bristol City this week but, for now, Chris Mepham, Ethan Ampadu, James Lawrence, Tom Lockyer and Joe Rodon remain his centre-back options.
“Ash is yet to find a club,” Giggs said. “I think he’s more or less signed for Bristol City, I know he’s in talks with them, but he’s not done a preseason.
“I spoke with Ash and he was fine about it. He hasn’t let me down and it wasn’t an easy decision.
“But we have players who are playing, especially in his position. He still remains my captain.”
Gareth Bale, now back in favour at Real Madrid after an aborted move to the Chinese Super League, will captain Wales next month.
Wales are six points adrift of Group E leaders Hungary, albeit with a game in hand, and three behind Croatia and Slovakia.
Wales squad:
Wayne Hennessey (Crystal Palace), Danny Ward (Leicester), Adam Davies (Stoke), Connor Roberts (Swansea), Chris Gunter (Reading), Chris Mepham (Bournemouth), James Lawrence (Anderlecht), Tom Lockyer (Charlton), Joe Rodon (Swansea), Neil Taylor (Aston Villa), Ben Davies ( Tottenham), Ethan Ampadu (RB Leipzig, on loan from Chelsea), Joe Allen (Stoke), Matthew Smith (QPR, on loan from Manchester City), Will Vaulks (Cardiff ), Jonny Williams (Charlton), Aaron Ramsey (Juventus), Joe Morrell (Lincoln, on loan from Bristol City), Harry Wilson (Bournemouth, on loan from Liverpool), Daniel James (Manchester United), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Sam Vokes (Stoke), Tom Lawrence (Derby), Ben Woodburn (Oxford, on loan from Liverpool), Kieffer Moore (Wigan), Ryan Hedges (Aberdeen).