Real Madrid star Gareth Bale says he turned down an approach to play for England in ‘one second’ when he was younger as he always wanted to play for Wales.
The former Tottenham Hotspur forward qualified to play for England through his grandmother’s heritage and if he had chosen that path he would likely have played in more international tournaments.
As it was, he decided to play for Wales – and his decision paid off after the Principality qualified for the European Championships next summer – their first international tournament since 1958.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, he stated: “I was really young at the time and my agent was involved, but it was literally a one-second conversation. I just said, ‘Stop – it’s never going to happen.’ I’m from Wales and I love Wales. Everyone knows how much I love playing for Wales. My grandmother is English, but I’m Welsh and that’s it. It was never an option.”
Looking back at the qualifying campaign, Bale said it was nearly perfect.
“It still feels like a dream that we’ve actually made it to the finals. Every campaign we start off saying we can do it, but there was a bit more belief this time. A few of us have more than 50 caps, and although the expectation went up and the pressure mounts with every game, we just tried to embrace it. As soon as we got the ball rolling, the momentum just took us. We were keeping clean sheets, we were nicking 1-0 wins, it was the perfect campaign.”
