Gareth Bale is set to miss Wales’s European Championship qualifier with England on Saturday after suffering a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

The Tottenham player has recently missed six games with a back problem but and completed his first full 90 minutes since mid-January only last weekend.

It is understood the back injury has led to further complications meaning that a player regarded by many as a potential Footballer of the Year will be denied the chance to lead Wales’ hopes.

Wales are expected to confirm the news later today and it will be received gratefully in the England camp.

But it is a devastating blow for Wales, who believed that a fully fit Bale could help them achieve a shock in front of a sell-out capacity Millennium Stadium.

Bale will also be hugely disappointed. Before the problem, he said: “A lot of us haven’t played against England for the full team. It will be a great occasion and one we all want to play in. I definitely think it will be a great experience for us to play at the highest level and it will stand us in good stead for the future.

“Now is the time we need to start delivering and there’s no better game than to beat England.”

The reporting of the withdrawal in one of today's paper, ahead of any official announcement, drew criticism from Raymond Verheijen, Wales’ Dutch assistant manager using microblogging website Twitter to voice his concern.

Verheijen claimed, via Twitter, that contrary to reports ‘[Bale] did not train at all yesterday’.

And then the man who has reached the semi-finals of five major international tournaments added, in reference to the journalists who broke the story: “The incompetent amateurs struck again!”

However, despite Verheijen's criticism, the fact that Bale is to be withdrawn from the squad was duly confirmed in an official statement from the Welsh FA, which read: "Due to a hamstring problem, Gareth Bale has had to withdraw from the Wales squad to face England on Saturday.

"He felt tight last week during training with his club. After playing 90 minutes on Saturday he felt some muscle tightness. Initially, this was expected to be muscle soreness after playing his first game.

"On joining-up with the Welsh squad he was kept off his feet in training for two days to recover. As he still felt tight in the warm-up on Tuesday, Gareth was pulled-out of the session. He did not train at all on Wednesdayand was sent for a scan.

"The scan revealed that Gareth Bale picked-up his injury last week."