Wolves' Dave Edwards: My pal Gareth Bale can be world's best

The 30-year-old Wolves midfielder believes Bale was the best player on show in France as Wales confounded everyone by reaching the semi-finals before bowing out to eventual winners Portugal.

And he reckons,with time on his side, the 26-year-old can eclipse his Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi by becoming the best on the planet.

"Gareth is a ridiculously talented player. I think he was the best player in the tournament in terms of the consistency of his performances," said Edwards. Every single game he was head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch.

"Ronaldo is an incredibly talented player and arguably the best player to have played the game along with Lionel Messi and the other greats.

"But in terms of what he brings to the team – when we played Portugal, you could tell Ronaldo always wants to score, he got the goal and that's what he does – Gareth was everywhere on the pitch and defensively, he was ridiculously brave and he has the ability to do everything going forwards.

"At one point against Portugal he beat one challenge and kept running and running and got a shot on target and he had another effort in the second half where the keeper made a save.

"If he stays fit and he now has the knack of scoring goals more, he's going to be one of the best players in the world.

"Gareth is a few years younger than Ronaldo (Bale is 26, Ronaldo is 31) and he has everything in his game to be the best player in the world."

And Edwards added: "I'm desperate to stay involved but it all depends on fitness and playing week-in, week-out for my club and that's what I've got to do.

"It's a good group of players and if I'm not playing for Wolves other people will take my place so I do need to be playing as much as possible.

"I want to stay in form and score a few more goals and hopefully stay a part of things."