The shock Gareth Bale transfer decision Southampton nearly made | OneFootball

Southampton nearly made a shock decision on Gareth Bale's future - it all could've been so different

Gareth Bale enjoyed a star-studded career bettered by few in British footballing history owing to his heroics for Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid and the Welsh national team - but it's at Southampton where the winger first took such strides towards greatness.

Snapped up by watchful Southampton scouts at the age of nine after catching the eye in a six-a-side tournament for local club Cardiff Civil Service, Bale rose through the Saints' prestigious youth ranks and into the first-team shortly after leaving school.

Then primarily deployed as a left-back, the future Galactico became the second-youngest debutant in Southampton when he made his senior debut in April 2006, aged just 16 years and 275 days.

The rest, as they say, is history. Bale lit up the Championship with Southampton before moving on to Spurs, where, after a gradual period of acclimatisation, he exploded onto the scene and never looked back.

Bale established himself among the Premier League's shining lights in North London and was eventually crowned as the world's most expensive footballer when he sealed an £85 million switch to Real Madrid in the summer of 2013. The Welshman would only go from strength to strength in the Spanish capital, scoring 81 times from just shy of 200 appearances and helping Los Blancos to three LaLiga triumphs and a whopping five UEFA Champions League titles.

Beyond club level, Bale enjoyed unprecedented success with his beloved Wales, re-defining a generation and, indeed, the very culture of Welsh football, orchestrating a starring role in the Red Dragons' shock run to the European Championships semi-finals in 2016.

It may hard to think, then, but it really could've played out so differently - and that rests on one decision Southampton nearly made on Bale's future.

The shock Gareth Bale decision Southampton nearly made

Bale's prodigious talent and potential was always a source of excitement within the Southampton academy, but that's not to say his formative days on the south coast were entirely plain-sailing.

Far from it, in fact.

Over the years, we have seen so many enormously-talented prospects slip through the net and face rejection before bouncing back to prove their doubters wrong. Bale could've been just another name on a long list of players to have done so, as Southampton shockingly flirted with the idea of offloading the Cardiff-born superstar from their youth ranks before his ascension into the first-team.

It transpired that Bale, who later became a supreme athlete marked by his powerful running power, remarkable upper-body strength and relentless energy down the right-flank despite myriad injury setbacks throughout such an illustrious, trophy-laden career, encountered growing pains in his youth.

These issues prompted a series of problems with his back, and it's perhaps no great coincidence that Bale would suffer a slipped disc at the age of 18 - which, remarkably, he played through his entire career before ultimately retiring due to the persistent pain of the setback.

Indeed, Bale even stopped playing at one point, around the age of 14, and once revealed that Southampton nearly opted against offering a scholarship contract.

During an interview with the Independent back in 2008, Bale opened up on how Southampton almost gave up on him. He explained: "I didn't think in my mind I wasn't going to make it, but there was a time when it was difficult at Southampton and I almost didn't get signed on as a scholar.

"I had one season when I was just growing all the time and it caused me a lot of difficulties.

"I had growth problems at 14 because I was quite small and then suddenly I was spurting up. It caused me a lot of problems with my back and it disorientated me quite a bit.

"I had to stop playing because my back was out of alignment. I just couldn't run properly."

Southampton will always have huge Gareth Bale relief

Southampton will forever be relieved that they ultimately came to their senses and persisted with Bale's undoubted potential, in spite of issues emerging that may have prompted other, less-patient clubs towards a parting of ways.

They always knew, it would seem, that Bale would come good, and that faith was handsomely rewarded in the years to come.

Bale's first and only full campaign in Southampton's senior side saw him scoop the Football League Young Player of the Year award at the end of the 2006/07 season, in which he registered five goals and 11 assists as the Saints made it to the Championship play-offs.

Quite naturally, of course, they were powerless to prevent Bale's exit after that, and he decided on a move to Spurs which eventually proved to be the making of the Welshman at the highest level.

Southampton didn't totally lose out, though, and netted full profit for an academy graduate when they elected to accept the Lilywhites' £10 million offer.

There were no losers here, as the Saints kick-started Bale's career after so nearly dealing it a potentially-decisive blow but then got a season of brilliance, £10 million and boundless recognition for what was to come for coming to their senses.