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Southampton's academy is widely regarded as one of the best in England, having produced stars such as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Luke Shaw, Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale.

All four have gone on to great successes but none quite so far as the latter, who has been lighting up La Liga and the Champions League since completing a then-world-record move to Real Madrid in 2013.

Despite now being at the pinnacle of European football, the Welsh star hasn't forgotten his humble roots and paid homage to the Saints as he featured in BT Sports' What I Wore series. Here's what the 29-year-old had to say:

"I remember my first game, I was so nervous! I felt like I didn't want to go out on the pitch to be honest, I was 16 at the time, had been playing in the reserve team and doing well and to be honest I wasn't really expecting to be called up to the first team.

"I remember one of the boys my age said 'I have heard that you might be going to the first team' and I said 'no, don't be stupid!' and I remember just having the chat and training and it was surreal.

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"I loved playing for Southampton, the fans are incredible and I will always be in debt to them."

The winger made his debut in front of the St Mary's Stadium at the age of just 16 - in a victory over Millwall - and hasn't looked back since. Initially a left-back, the speedster has developed into a brilliant winger and is now considered among the world's best in his position.

Having chalked up five goals and 12 assists in 44 appearances for the south coast outfit, Bale secured a move to Spurs for just over £13m and was then sold to Los Blancos for almost seven-times as much six years later - the first of many times Southampton would be stung in the following decade.

Despite being an elite player now, it's nice to see that the powerful forward remains thankful to club that was his stepping stone to stardom.