Wrexham owner Rob McElhenney jokes about Gareth Bale offer

Wrexham owner Rob McElhenney has jokingly suggested he might try and persuade former Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale to come out of retirement.

The five-time Champions League winner announced his retirement at the age of 33 in January after leading Wales to their first World Cup finals appearance since 1958.

Wrexham sealed their promotion to the English Football League after a 15-year absence with a 3-1 win over Boreham Wood on Saturday.

Bale congratulated McElhenney on the promotion of his side in a short five-second clip on social media.

The co-creator of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia responded: “Hey @GarethBale11 let’s play golf, where I totally won’t spend 4 hours trying to convince you to un-retire for one last magical season”.

Bale later replied “Depends what course” and tagged in the official account of golf governing body the R&A, which is based at 30-time Open venue St Andrews and had reposted McElhenney’s tweet saying: “We might be able to help set this up…”.

Wrexham, who are co-owned by McElhenney and his fellow Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds, have already managed to persuade one player to come out of retirement.

Former Manchester United and England goalkeeper Ben Foster resumed his career in March and helped the north Wales club to promotion, memorably saving a last-minute penalty in the crucial victory against title rivals Notts County.