Gareth Bale can open door to greatest British footballer debate by leading Wales to World Cup

I put forward a question to some here at 90min towers on Saturday. Who was better - Gareth Bale or Wayne Rooney?

It was a close debate, much closer than anticipated, but the Welshman - who is in line to win his 100th cap for Wales on Saturday evening - just about edged out England and Man Utd's record goalscorer.

That led me to an even bigger question - if Bale trumps Rooney, then surely he has a shout to be the greatest British footballer ever, right?

Various injury problems and his subdued personality in a foreign country have clouded Bale's breathtaking legacy. We focus on the missed chances for Bale to become one of the very best to play the game rather than focus on the amazing career he has had.

How many players became the poster boy of the Premier League before forcing through a world-record move to Real Madrid? How many players have played a key part in winning four Champions Leagues? How many players have scored an overhead kick in a European Cup final?

Unless you speak Spanish and watch El Chiringuito all day (yes please), then it's hard to grasp just how huge a figure Bale is in football. He leads a quiet life, his personal brand revolves around a completely different sport.

Fortunately, that's not how you should judge how good a footballer is.

We at 90min ranked Bale among the ten best players of the last decade as part of our anniversary celebrations - not one Englishman came close to breaking onto that same list. He has been a defining player in an era dominated by two of the greatest footballers of all time, and at times Bale has even rivalled them for outstanding individual moments.

Part of Bale's underrated legacy is that it's inconceivable that he could have been more successful in international football - he's pretty much hit the ceiling with Wales and is still trying to smash through it at the age of 32, 16 years after he made his debut.

He led a country with a population little over 3m - less than half the size of London and making up under 5% of the UK's total population - to their first major tournament in 58 years, reaching the semi-finals. Every single one of those stats are jaw-dropping in their own right and adds another luxurious layer to Bale's incredible body of work.

There are few teams who win trophies at club level, and even fewer on the international stage. If Bale succeeds in leading Wales to only their second ever World Cup then that would be equal to any achievement made by a Three Lions player.

Bale has peaked as a touchline winger, an inverted forward and a luxury super sub, ripping apart the two finest domestic leagues in Europe in the process and stacking his CV. But leading Wales to Qatar could be the achievement to top the lot.