Coleman backing Gareth Bale factor to boost Wales

Gareth Bale trains ahead of the Wales v Macedonia World Cup qualifier. Picture: Getty

The 24-year-old joined up with the Wales squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Macedonia and Serbia, just hours after being unveiled to 30,000 Real Madrid fans in the wake of his world record e100 million (£85.3m) move from Tottenham.

As crucial as the forward had proved to be for Spurs, and may prove to be for Real, he is every bit as vital for Wales.

During Coleman’s reign, Bale has scored five out of eight goals and the Dragons have occasionally looked toothless without him, markedly in last month’s goalless draw with the Republic of Ireland.

The Wales manager admits that Bale, who has not played since July, will not take part in a full 90 minutes in either of the upcoming qualifiers and he will not take any risks with his fitness, but he remains hopeful he will play some part.

And he hopes the mere presence of a player who now enjoys one of the highest profiles in the global game, will be enough to instil fear into the hearts of their opponents, starting with Macedonia on Friday.

“The fact he is in our squad is enough,” said Coleman. “If I am the manager of Macedonia and I know he is on his way over, that is a threat in itself.

“I experienced that in my own career when I played in good teams with some special players, it makes a difference when you are lining up in the tunnel.

“With Blackburn, we had Alan Shearer playing for us, and we knew, if we kept a clean sheet, we would win, because he would score. Even better than that, the opposition knew it.

“When you have a player of that importance in your team it doesn’t half give you confidence.”

Shearer went on to be the world’s most expensive player for a while, when he joined Newcastle for £15m in 1996.

Coleman also praised Bale for the respect he had shown to Wales by dashing back from his Madrid appearance to join up with his colleagues, and believes it sets a perfect example to his team-mates.

“If you imagine what is going on in his mind, the experience he has had, it’s probably a relief that he has signed because it has been going on for so long,” said Coleman. “It has finally happened for him and he is dealing with all that.

“I had already spoken with him the day before and he told me that he was flying in to Mad-rid for the unveiling and when it was done he would jump on a flight and come straight back.

“So I just said, ‘text me when you arrive back at the hotel so I know your movements’.

“That is exactly what he did. That is the attitude you are looking for from your players, all of your players.”

Coleman also revealed he had noticed a difference in Bale since his dream move was completed. He said: “He has got a smile on his face now as he knows where he is going to be playing his football, he knows his future because before he did not know whether he was staying at Spurs or whether he was going. The media frenzy was following him and now he has a more settled look on his face because he knows where he is going to be playing.”

Wales are fourth in Group A and have admitted they have no chance of qualifying for next year’s World Cup in Brazil.

Belgium lead the group on 19 points with Croatia on 16, Serbia on seven, Wales on six, Scotland on five and Macedonia on four.

Coleman is all too aware that Real Madrid would not bepleased if Bale were to pick up an injury on international duty.

“They are not our players, we borrow them, and we have to hand them back in at least the same state as what they arrived otherwise the relationship you try to build with clubs comes crashing down and that’s no good,” he explained.

“If there’s any chance he’s in the red zone in terms of he could get injured, then he is not going to participate.”

Coleman thanked Real Mad-rid for allowing Bale to join up with Wales when they could have been forgiven for wanting to wrap him in cotton wool ahead of his debut against Villarreal.

“Credit to them, they have not put any barriers in front of him,” said the manager.

“I know Carlo Ancelotti’s right-hand man Paul Clement very well, he coached with me at Fulham, so that can help us going forward.”