Bristol City could face five-time Champions League winner Gareth Bale next season

Bristol City could find themselves playing against recently released Real Madrid star Gareth Bale next season after reports emerged of a potential transfer to Cardiff City.

Bale is free to speak to clubs about his next move after his nine-year stay in the Spanish capital was brought to an end with his contract not being renewed.

The Wales skipper enjoyed a successful spell with Madrid, winning five Champions League trophies - the most a player from the British Isles has achieved.

He also won three La Liga titles as well as three FIFA Club World Cup triumphs, making him one of Britain’s best exports.

Amazingly, he could be lining up against the Robins next season as their Severnside rivals Cardiff plot an ambitious swoop.

A report from the BBC Wales Sport claims that the Bluebirds are stepping up their interest to sign the 32-year-old on a free transfer.

Cardiff face competition from Major League Soccer outfit DC United, as well as his former club Tottenham Hotspur, where he spent the 2020/21 season on loan at.

It is believed that Bale is willing to take a significant pay cut from what he was earning during his time in Spain to make his next move possible, though Cardiff have refused to comment on any speculation.

Bale played a key role as Wales defeated Ukraine 1-0 to qualify for the World Cup, where they will face Gareth Southgate’s England in Qatar.

Commenting yesterday, former City skipper Ashley Williams made a comment on what is next for him, entertaining the idea of a move to the Cardiff City Stadium.

Appearing as a pundit on SkySports, he said: “He’d like to play a bit more going into it. Swansea also needed a striker so they might be sniffing around him!

“He’ll have to get some football in his legs obvious. He’s going to be six months older and he’d like to play more football. What it goes to show is you can have all the stats, the medical situation you want, it’s about heart and getting on the pitch even if you haven’t had the minutes in the tank.

“We’ll have to see, I’m not sure what he is going to do. I had a thought last season where he would be thinking in his hotel room ‘this could be my last game of football’.

“I don’t think he knows what he wants to do or where he is going to be. He’s going to have to go somewhere, whether that is Cardiff or who knows.”

A move to the South Wales capital would bring Bale closer to his personally-owned indoor golf bar that is coming to the city of Bristol shortly.

Despite receiving more than 100 objections from local residents, councillors granted the Welsh superstar a premises licence for Par 59, which is set to open this autumn. Bale already owns a similar venture in Cardiff city centre, but this one will be erected in the Harbourside area of Bristol.