Gareth Bale lands major new football job as he replaces Man Utd legend
The Wales legend has a new job after making a good impression with bosses
Bale has landed himself a major new job
(Image: PA)
Wales football legend Gareth Bale has landed a new job as one of TNT Sports' main football pundits for the new season.
The former Real Madrid and Tottenham star has signed a deal with the broadcaster to become a central figure in its Premier League and Champions League coverage throughout the 2025/26 campaign, according to the Guardian. Bale replaces Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand, who left TNT after 12 years having opted not to sign a new contract at the end of last season.
Bale has previously worked for TNT on its European football coverage, and is understood to have impressed bosses at the broadcaster with his analysis of Spurs' Europa League final win against United in May.
He will join Peter Crouch and Joe Cole as part of TNT's live coverage of the Premier League on Saturday lunchtimes, while Owen Hargreaves, Steve McManaman, Ally McCoist and Karen Carney are also among TNT's pundits for domestic and European action.
It is another big move for Bale, who retired from football at the age of 33 in the wake of Wales' disappointing campaign at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar - the nation's first World Cup for 64 years
A glittering career saw him win 111 caps for Wales, scoring a record 41 goals for his country and leading them to three major tournaments. At club level, he began his career at Southampton before becoming a star player at Tottenham Hotspur and sealing a then-world record £85 million move to Real Madrid.
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After winning five Champions Leagues and three La Liga titles during his time in Spain, he finished his career with a MLS Cup title with Los Angeles FC, retiring as one of the most highly-decorated players of the modern era with 18 trophies to his name.
Bale's new job with TNT comes after he revealed he wanted to buy his hometown club Cardiff City, with the former Wales skipper part of a consortium that made their interest in the League One club known by issuing an official letter of intent to Bluebirds owner Vincent Tan.
It was widely reported that a bid of around £40m had been tabled, although multiple club sources denied that claim. However, last month, Bale said that a "brand new offer" had been made.
Speaking to Front Office Sports Today, the former forward said he believed a "more than fair offer" has now been put forward, as he explained he was waiting for the club's response.
"It's exciting news," he said at the time. "We have a brand new offer on the table, it's recently just gone in. We think it's a great offer, one that we're very happy with.
"We think it's very fair, if not more than fair, and it's something we hope the current owners will take serious.
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"We'd love them to accept so we can take full control and get on with what we want to do and create Cardiff into a club that we know it can be."
He later told ESPN: "We are interested in trying to take over Cardiff. We have actually put in a great new offer that we hope we can get feedback (from). We think it's a very good offer for where the club is at.
"It's kind of out of our hands now and we are looking forward to seeing what develops with that."
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