Gareth Bale's eye-watering wealth accumulated throughout his playing days puts him in a strong position to potentially become a football club owner. The legendary former Wales skipper enjoyed a glittering career.

He collected 19 major trophies, with 16 secured during his nine-year stint at Real Madrid. Beyond his numerous honours, the 36-year-old banked millions, briefly becoming the planet's best-paid footballer when penning a six-year, £150million deal with the Spanish heavyweights in 2016.

Three years after hanging up his boots, Bale is looking to expand his commercial ventures by moving into club ownership. The Welshman revealed his post-retirement ambitions last summer when he joined an American consortium that examined a potential takeover of Cardiff City following their drop to League One.

Whilst the transaction never materialised, it hasn't dampened Bale's appetite for club ownership as he confessed on The Overlap's Stick to Football podcast that it remains attractive to him.

"I understand it's a long time retired, I've been planning it since I was about 26 or 27," he said. "I always said when I retired that I wanted one, two, three years to decompress and enjoy with the kids, then try to find a few paths I want to go down.

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"Obviously, you (Gary Neville) owning a football team, you understand the stresses of it. But we went and looked down that route. It's something that does interest me. We obviously tried with Cardiff last summer, which didn't materialise.

"And they are doing amazing again this season!" Bale, who reportedly has a net worth of £120million, has previously invested in several businesses in his hometown.

The former winger owns Elevens Bar and Par 59, a mini-golf themed bar, in Cardiff city centre, and has stakes in Penderyn Whisky and TGL, the indoor golf league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

During his playing career, the 111-cap legend secured several lucrative long-term sponsorships with brands such as Adidas, PlayStation and BMW. On the podcast, Bale admitted venturing into management is a road he won't be travelling down, unlike his ex-Wales team-mates Ryan Giggs and Craig Bellamy.

He said: "Something like that interests me more than the thought of management. I did all that as a player and you've got to put it even more as a coach and manager, so that's too much for me."