Bale's career decision becomes too hard to ignore as Wales milestone reached

There's a chance that fates are conspiring to make up Gareth Bale's mind for him.

As the latest set of training photos from Wales' Vale of Glamorgan base circulated this week, there was a familiar look to them.

Bale is always in amongst the shots, smiling and laughing, joking with the players from a wide array of clubs that always make up the Wales squad - from Juventus, Liverpool and Tottenham to St Pauli, Swindon Town and on loan at Venezia.

He might not have kicked a competitive ball since the disappointing goalless draw at home to Estonia in September, but there was no way that Bale was missing out on seeing his boys, catching up with what is going on in their lives and sharing stories from games and tournaments gone by.

The days of Real Madrid being upset about Bale's devotion to country over club seem long gone now, whatever anger that was there has just dissolved into a sort of acceptance. We all saw the flag, but then we also saw the exorbitant six-year contract they gave him in the summer of 2016. Nobody is innocent here.

Carlo Ancelotti had admitted that Bale was close to returning from a knee injury for the game against Rayo Vallecano before the international break, and it would seem that the Italian is relying on the forward in his final season at the club.

Bale started the first three games of Real's campaign after all, before three more appearances for Wales - and then an injury.

The last one of those, the Estonia game, took him to 99 international caps, and by the time he has hopefully reached 101 at the end of the Belgium clash on Tuesday Wales will know their World Cup fate.

Thanks to their impressive Nations League campaign the Welsh are now guaranteed at least a playoff spot for Qatar 2022 - what would be a first World Cup appearance in 64 years - but four points from the next two games would likely make the draw a much easier one, and allow the Cardiff crowd to make a difference.

Bale will already have an eye on those March playoff dates, as leading his country to a first World Cup appearance since the days of John Charles is really the only thing left he has to achieve in the eyes of the Welsh public.

But what then?

There has been a strange obsession with Bale deciding to stop playing football for a while now.

At 32, and still on one of the most lucrative contracts in world football, the assumption that he will just give it all up and go and play golf has taken hold. Indeed, he was asked about that Wales went out of Euro 2020.

Is he really going to walk away though?

We all know how close he was to moving to China - a country where he is adored - a couple of years ago, and after that deal fell through then he was never likely to be given a contract that comes anywhere near to his Real wages.

That deal expires in the summer, but if Wales have qualified for the World Cup starting in November then surely Bale is going to want to keep his eye in heading into the tournament?

His professional dedication to his country means he'll demand it of himself, even if he is sure to have become more of a current Cristiano Ronaldo-type, less mobile centre-forward by then.

So in that case he'll be playing football for someone, somewhere, albeit on a vastly reduced contract, in the 2022-23 season then, during which - in the October - will be the draw for the Euro 2024 qualifiers, the first matches of which take place in March 2023, three months after the World Cup finishes.

Three months isn't a very long time is it?

Could it be then that Bale sticks at it on a club level in order to enter those Euro qualifiers, going into the 2023-24 season and then potentially the tournament in Germany just after it? He will turn 35 two days after the final, although maybe park your fairytales for now.

All a bit far-fetched? Maybe. But we're only talking about two-and-a-half years here.

The current condensed nature of the international football calendar, plus the fact that it is easier for Wales to qualify for a Euros than it is a World Cup, might just have mapped out a perfect ending for Bale.

He would surely see a tournament such as Germany 2024 - where Wales fans could travel en masse unlike the logistical nightmare that was Euro 2020, and the potential uncertainty of Qatar - as a fitting conclusion to his career.

Bale might have reached 100, but he could still carry his bat for a while yet.