Jack Wilshere has claimed that Gareth Bale would not ‘get a game’ at Arsenal, and believes the veteran free agent would even hold back their young players.
Bale is currently without a club after his departure from Real Madrid at the end of the season, although he has held talks with Cardiff and visited their training ground.
A number of other teams have been linked with him, but Wilshere, a former midfielder at the Emirates, says the 32-year-old would be down the pecking order.
Quizzed on whether he would like Bale to join the club, Wilshere told talkSPORT: ‘No.
‘I look at the players who would be playing in that position and they’re young players who have arguably been Arsenal’s best players over the last few years.
‘So one, I don’t think he gets a game. And if he does, I think he’d be holding one of those players back.’
Arsenal already have the likes of Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and Nicolas Pepe that can play out wide, while they are also keen on signing Raphinha from Leeds.
That may see Bale forced to settle for a switch elsewhere, with Cardiff in contention.
Asked on whether a move to the Welsh side was realistic, Bale said: ‘I can’t really say.
‘I haven’t really thought too much about that. I don’t really know if the standard makes too much of a difference.
‘A football game is a football game. I feel like I’ll never really lose my quality on the ball. I guess it’s a conversation to be had.
‘I need to make sure I’m playing games and I’m as fit as possible, it’s going to be massively important.
‘Coming into this camp now, I wasn’t fit at all. I didn’t have much game time at all. Sometimes I’m able to get away with it.
‘Ideally I want to go into a World Cup playing games and being able to be as fit as I can for as long as I can.’