Coleman adamant over Bale’s availability for Wales

Gareth Bale’s availability for Wales will not be compromised by the latest injury of his Real Madrid career, according to his international manager Chris Coleman.

Bale has not played since September 26 because of a calf problem but he had been stepping up his recovery and a return to action was imminent.

But the 28-year-old forward suffered a fibrillar rupture to the adductor muscle of his left leg on Thursday and could be sidelined for a further six weeks.

It is another blow to Bale’s injury-hit Real career with the Welshman having missed 91 of their 250 games since joining from Tottenham in 2013 for a then-world record fee of £85.3million.

Bale sat out Wales’ 2-0 friendly defeat to France in Paris on Friday and his availability could become an issue when the Dragons play at the China Cup in March.

It is understood Wales will receive a greater participation fee if their top players make the 12,000-mile round trip to the southern Chinese city of Nanning.

But the four-team tournament comes just before the quarter-finals of the Champions League, when Real will expect to be defending the trophy they have won for the last two seasons.

Coleman, however, was adamant over the issue of Bale’s availability for Wales.

He said: “Hopefully Gareth gets back before Christmas or just after and we’ve got two or three months before the China Cup.

“We expect all our players if they are fit to play for their club – then they are fit to play for us. That’s how we look at it.

“We never take risks, we’ve never done that and I don’t see that changing in the future.

“But if he’s fit for Madrid, then obviously he’s fit for us.”

Coleman said he planned to speak to Bale about his latest injury and admitted that players have to tailor their training programmes as they age.

Former Wales winger Ryan Giggs famously did that to prolong his career, and the Manchester United star continued playing until the age of 40.

“Some players as they get older change their schedule,” Coleman said.

“That’s up to him and Real Madrid. When he’s with us, all our players have different programmes at different times of the week because we know what they do with their clubs.

“We have to make sure that we taper that in with the way we work.

“But players can go through spells when they’ve been out with an injury, they get referrals and then they get this, that and the other.

“The harder you try to get back… you get a setback, and sometimes you have to go through that.

“Gareth will be devastated by this but he just needs to be settled again, get his fitness and not rush himself back.”