Wales talisman Gareth Bale swerves retirement reports

Gareth Bale has cast doubt over his future after twice declining the opportunity to deny reports he could retire after the European Championship finals this summer.

Last week Bale's agent, Jonathan Barnett, labelled as "rubbish" a report in the Spanish daily ABC that his client could retire. The 31-year-old is under contract at Real Madrid until the end of next season on a deal worth about £600,000 a week. But the Wales captain, who has just finished a loan at Tottenham, refused to deny he could call it a day after Euro 2020.

“Obviously there’s been a lot of things written about whether I’m doing this and doing that,” said Bale. “For me, the main thing is I don’t want to say anything that’s going to cause more chaos or more drama or cause a distraction. I just want to focus on the Euros. I don’t want to say anything that is going to cause any problems on what I am doing or what I am not doing. When the Euros finishes for us then I will sit down and decide what I want to do.”