Bale named Welsh player of the year

Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale was named the Football Association of Wales player of the year for a record fourth time on Monday.

Bale retained the top honour at the FWA awards dinner in Cardiff as he surpassed Mark Hughes and John Hartson, who both won the prize on three occasions.

It capped a successful year for the 25-year-old, having won the UEFA Champions League, Super Cup and the Copa del Rey with Real.

Bale, who also scooped the Vauxhall fans’ player of the year for a fourth consecutive year, has scored 21 goals for both club and country in 2014 so far.

“It’s been a fantastic year. I went to Madrid to win trophies and I’ve been lucky enough to do that,” said Bale ahead of Wales’ two home Euro 2016 qualifiers against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Cyprus on October 10 and 13.

“It’s great to win the award. When you see all the names of the past winners’ on the list, it makes me very proud to have won it.

“It’s not just about me. Any individual success is down to the whole team and what we’ve done over the last 12 months.”

New Tottenham defender Ben Davies was named young player of the year while Swansea City skipper Ashley Williams picked up the club player of the year award for the fourth successive year.