Former Wales star Gareth Bale has outlined his reasons for rejecting Manchester United.

The 34-year-old, who retired from the sport earlier than many fans anticipated, won five Champions League titles with Real Madrid.

However, his career may have turned out differently if he had joined United when Sir Alex Ferguson was still manager.

Of the time he rejected United when at Southampton in 2007, Bale said, per The Sun: "I rejected Manchester United and went to Tottenham.

"At that time, United were the biggest team in the league, they were winning trophies, they had the biggest players, the best manager,

"The easiest decision would be to go to Man United and the biggest club.

"You always want to be at the biggest clubs but I took the approach that I wanted to be playing first-team football."