Gareth Bale was caught glued to a laptop screen during Wales’ friendly date with the United States on Thursday and Robert Page says he would have no complaints if the Tottenham loanee was watching the Masters.
An avid golf fan who faced plenty of criticism for that hobby during his time at Real Madrid was not included in the Welsh matchday squad for a clash against the USA.
That freed him to take up a place in the stands, where he seemingly found other ways to keep himself amused.
Plenty have suggested that Bale was keeping up to date with goings on at Augusta while his fellow countrymen played out a goalless draw at the Liberty Stadium, with his attention certainly diverted.
Page, who has been standing in as national team coach during the enforced absence of Ryan Giggs, claims to have no interest in what Bale was up to off the pitch, with the 31-year-old being kept fresh for a UEFA Nations League double header against the Republic of Ireland and Finland.
When the Masters theory was put to him in Swansea, Page told reporters: “I don’t know what the players not in the squad were up to.
“There are no problems at all. Balo’s here, he’s in the dressing room with the lads beforehand and making sure that everyone’s in the right frame of mind.
“He is probably the fittest he has been and we will benefit from that.
“It’s great to have him playing week-in week-out and the way Tottenham have built him up to full fitness.
“It’s a case of managing him this week. It was always the plan to leave him out of the 23 and have him raring to go and firing on Sunday.”
Page is in temporary charge of Wales as Giggs has agreed to a three-game absence from the touchline following allegations of assault.
The Manchester United legend is still having an input on decisions, though, as he watches on from afar.
Page added: “We spoke before the game and he wished us all luck.
“We spoke about substitutions and how we anticipated the game would go.
“We’ll also have a debrief and we’ll go through any little knocks we’ve picked up, performance, areas we need to look at and have a quick chat.”
