Walcott wants Bale back at Southampton… but jokes star hasn't replied to his texts

Although, he's not getting much luck getting in touch with the Wales superstar… apparently

Bale - who aided his country to World Cup qualification for the first time since 1958 on Sunday - confirmed he was leaving the Spanish giants at the end of the season.

But despite the LaLiga and Champions League winners opting not to renew a deal with him after his nine years of service, the 32-year-old isn't short of options for his next career move.

The forward has been linked with a wide range of clubs, including old club Tottenham Hotspur and hometown side Cardiff City.

Another of Bale's former teams, Southampton, are also linked - much to the delight of his ex-teammate, Walcott.

The current Saints star joined Laura Woods, Darren Bent and Ally McCoist on Tuesday's talkSPORT Breakfast and was soon asked if Bale could return to St Mary's.

And the answer is pretty obvious, isn't it?

"I'll be honest with you," he said, "I'm not the right man to answer that, because I'd love him here, of course!

"There's a lot of teams, obviously - it's Gareth Bale. You can see what he does for Wales. He shows that he's still fit, hungry.

"It'll be interesting, I'm intrigued to be honest."

Bale and Walcott are far from strangers, with them both coming through the ranks at Southampton's youth academy together.

And the pair have faced each other on numerous occasions since while representing rivals Arsenal and Tottenham, most recently going against each other in Southampton's game against Spurs when Bale returned to north London on loan in the 2020/21 season.

But whilst the Saints star is keen to play alongside his boyhood teammate again, he joked that he may have some difficulty persuading him… given Bale hasn't replied to his texts!

"He actually ignored my message from the other day [after Wales' World Cup qualification]," Walcott laughed. "So I'm not very pleased about that!

"Unless he's changed his number!"

Turns out footballers are just as bad as replying to text messages as the rest of us!