Andy King cannot envisage Gareth Bale’s Wales goalscoring record being broken in the future.

Bale bettered Ian Rush’s 28-goal record – the Liverpool striker setting that landmark from his 73 games – when he scored the first international hat-trick of his career in Thursday’s 6-0 victory over China in Nanning.

The Real Madrid forward now has 29 goals in 69 appearances after scoring Wales’ first hat-trick for 14 years.

“I’d imagine his record is going to take some beating,” said King, the Leicester midfielder currently on loan at Swansea.

“He’s a once-in-a-generation type player and for another Wales player to get as many goals is difficult to see.

“We were delighted for him to get that record, and the worse thing for other teams is that there’s many more to come.

“It’s a case sometimes of how many he’s going to score because it looks like it’s too easy for him.

“He can take that record as far as he wants, depending how long he wants to play for.”

Wales booked their place in the final of the China Cup on Monday by dismantling the tournament hosts at the Guangxi Sports Center.

It was the perfect start for new manager Ryan Giggs, who had waited two months for his first game in charge following his appointment in January.

“You could see he (Giggs) was pleased to get off to a winning start,” King said.

“But there’s still things he wants to improve on and that shows the standard he wants to set.

“You win 6-0 but he was not getting carried away – and that’s a good thing.

“But I’m sure it’s going to give him great confidence in that he knows the way he set the team up works.”

Giggs took the opportunity to blood several youngsters against China, with both Harry Wilson and Declan John impressing after being handed starting roles, while others were sent on as second-half substitutes.

Wilson was among the scorers as he won his second cap more than four years after becoming Wales’ youngest ever player.

The Liverpool midfielder, currently on loan at Hull, was 16 years and 207 days old when he played against Belgium in 2013 but had to wait until the day of his 21st birthday to be capped again.

“Harry’s done really well since he’s been on loan and he fitted straight into the team,” King said.

“The goal was a really good finish from him and it was good to see some of the young boys come on as well.

“We know we’ve got a hard game next week but you don’t get many chances to win trophies in international football.

“So you’ve got to take the chance when it comes.”