Gareth Bale urged to ‘come home’ by actor Michael Sheen
„Forget the continent, come home!“ That is actor Michael Sheen’s tongue-in-cheek message to fellow Welshman Gareth Bale, whose future at Real Madrid has been one of the talking points of the summer.
Bale has been out of favour in the Spanish capital since Zinedine Zidane rejoined the club for a second spell as head coach and made it clear the winger has no future at the Bernabeu.
Sheen, a lifelong football fan who played the outspoken football manager, Brian Clough in The Damned United, was speaking ahead of this weekend’s Homeless World Cup, which he helped to bring to Cardiff.
When asked about the Bale saga, Sheen said: „It seems a bit harsh when your coach turns against you like that. I wouldn’t like that if a director of a film I was doing publicly said that about me. I would be very upset.
„He is a big lad, he knows what he is doing. He is one of the best players in the world and I think it is in those moments, when things are tough for you, that is what makes champions. It is easy to look good when you are riding high and things are going well for you“.
And would Sheen like to see him back in the Premier League?
„That’d be great, wouldn’t it. Forget the continent, come home!“
Sheen, 50, was asked to sign for Arsenal when he was 12 years old. But he modestly insists that was where his talent peaked.
He told Sky Sports News: „I used to watch Ryan Giggs coming out to play for United and Wales and because he had curly hair and we were around the same age, I used to think: ‘Oh that could have been me.’ The idea that I could have been like Ryan Giggs is ridiculous…“
As a child, Sheen spent a few years living in Liverpool and so he has fond memories of watching Kevin Keegan and John Toshack play at Anfield.
Growing up, he insists all he ever did was play football, morning noon and night. If he wasn’t watching it, he was playing it. That continued when he moved to Port Talbot, a town in South Wales, a few years later.
Like many towns in Britain, there is homelessness in Port Talbot, shops are boarded up and there are high levels of unemployment.
Sheen feels he owes a lot to the town and wanted to give something back to those less fortunate, through the Homeless World Cup.
Around 50 countries will take part in the tournament this weekend and Sheen was pivotal in ensuring Wales hosted this year.
When asked why he got involved, he said: „I first went to the Homeless World Cup in Oslo and I saw how it can change people’s lives. I saw it happen in front of me.
„I was speaking to a woman who was part of the Wales women’s team. We were swapping stories about our lives and she was telling me how she had been homeless and had come out of prison…
„She had mental health issues. She then said: ‘Hang on, I have got to go and play.’ So she took her tracksuit off and played in the game… I saw her score her first goal ever and she scored it for Wales, and I saw the effect that had“.
The Homeless World Cup has been running for 17 years. Every player competing has been homeless in the last year. Some suffer from addiction, others have mental health issues.
In previous years some have even been spotted by scouts and subsequently offered professional contracts, including one at Manchester United.
The tournament starts this weekend in Cardiff.
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