Gareth Bale has missed 40 of the last 60 Real Madrid matches through injury and has now suffered another... so should Manchester United take an £85m gamble on the Welshman?

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It may be hard to believe for a three-time Champions League winner and the man who helped inspire unfancied Wales to the Euro 2016 semi-finals, but Gareth Bale should only now be approaching the peak of his career.

At 28, the Real Madrid winger should be at the height of his powers, breezing past defenders and dominating games week-in, week-out both in La Liga and in Europe.

Instead, as he contemplates another lengthy and demoralising spell on the sidelines, Bale may reflect on when the conversation about him turned from his world-beating powers to his never-ending injury curse.

Gareth Bale has suffered yet another injury setback, putting his Real Madrid future in doubt

The Welsh winger has missed 40 of Real Madrid's last 60 matches through a series of injuries

Bale has not featured for Real Madrid since a win over Borussia Dortmund in September

A breakdown of Gareth Bale's career injuries and how many matches he missed as a result

Just as the Welshman had started training again after a month out with a calf injury, he suffered a fresh groin problem and is now expected to be ruled out for the remainder of the year.

Wales manager Chris Coleman, still reeling from being without Bale's influence in crucial World Cup qualifiers against Serbia, Georgia and the Republic of Ireland, knew he'd be 'devastated.'

Coleman suggested that Bale and Real look closely at his training schedule, apparently drawing a connection between the intensity of their preparation work and the succession of muscle injuries suffered by the unfortunate player.

'Some players as they get older, they change their schedule,' said Coleman.

Another Welshman, Ryan Giggs, offers a good example. He took up yoga in his late 20s, as well as undergoing regular acupuncture and ice bath treatments, and continued playing for Manchester United until the age of 40.

Bale wasn't fully fit at the time he signed for Real for a world record £85million back in September 2013, and the foot and knee injuries he was carrying when he signed have proved a taste of what was to come.

In four seasons at Real, Bale only featured in 63 per cent of their matches because of injury

He has still enjoyed considerable success at Real, winning the Champions League three times

Wales manager Chris Coleman says Real Madrid may have to consider changing Bale's training

This latest setback is the 11th significant injury Bale has suffered since then, meaning he has played in just 159 of a possible 251 competitive matches for Real since then, a return of 63.35 per cent.

It's clear Bale has been incredibly successful during his four-and-a-bit seasons at the Bernabeu, winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey, three Champions Leagues and the Club World Cup, as well as scoring 70 goals.

But most worrying is that those injury issues are now becoming more frequent with age as Bale should be entering his prime. He has missed 40 of Real's last 60 matches and this latest setback will likely see him out of another seven.

His 2016-17 campaign was completely wrecked by injury, starting with a hip problems that saw him out for a week and then a three-month lay-off following damage to ankle tendons.

The season was then rounded off with two separate injuries to his troublesome calf muscle, the same area of Bale's body that saw him miss eight games at the start of the current season.

There were problems with his calf back in September and October 2015, and if you include his time at Tottenham, Bale has also had problems with his knee, back, ankle, hamstring, foot and thigh.

Bale's injury problems have also reduced the number of appearances for national side Wales

Bale scores against Moldova at the start of the World Cup qualifying campaign

No doubt during his latest period of rehabilitation, Bale will spend plenty of time dwelling on where his career goes from here.

As they proved in winning the Champions League last season, Real can do it without him and young pretenders such as Isco and Marco Asensio have capitalised on Bale's problems to establish themselves in Zinedine Zidane's plans.

Bale still hasn't won over the notoriously fickle Real fans and then there's the fact that each match Bale misses is costing them significant sums of money given his £290,000-a-week wages.

It's little wonder many are suggesting this latest injury means Bale has played his final game for the club, despite his contract running until 2022.

Manchester United retain interest in him but with Real keen to recover as much of the £85m fee they paid four years ago, it would represent an enormous gamble on someone so injury-prone.

Perhaps a lighter training workload could solve the problem and get Bale out on the pitch more frequently. There's no doubt he is capable of playing world class football. We'd just like to see more of him.

Bale celebrates with the Champions League trophy after winning it back in 2016

Bale retains the capability to burst past defenders — but must concentrate on regaining fitness