Wales boss Rob Page has named his first squad since Gareth Bale announced his retirement with Aaron Ramsey handed the captaincy. Page has named a 24-man squad for the first Euro 2024 qualifiers against Croatia and Latvia, with Nice midfielder Ramsey taking over as captain in place of Bale. Ramsey has done the job previously, having been selected Wales captain in March 2011 at the age of 20 by the late Gary Speed. In October 2012, Speed’s successor, Chris Coleman, handed the armband to Ashley Williams to allow Ramsey to focus on his football. In addition to Bale, Chris Gunter, Joe Allen, and Jonny Williams all resigned from international duty following Wales’ disastrous World Cup campaign before Christmas, in which they scored only once and finished bottom of their group.
Page has picked four uncapped players to his squad for the March 25 trip to World Cup semi-finalists Croatia and the three-day home game against Latvia. Jordan James and Ollie Cooper, who were in Qatar but not part of the official World Cup squad, also appear. Luke Harris of Fulham and Nathan Broadhead of Ipswich Town are also selected. Tom Bradshaw returns after being voted Millwall’s Championship player of the month for February.
David Brooks, who returned to the Bournemouth team on Saturday for the first time in 529 days following his cancer diagnosis, is not included. Rob Page and Wales are also concerned about Brennan Johnson’s fitness after the in-form Nottingham Forest forward was injured at Tottenham on Saturday. Johnson, who has seven goals since the World Cup, will have a groin issue scanned this week.
Wales squad
Goalkeepers: Danny Ward (Leicester), Wayne Hennessey (Nottingham Forest), Adam Davies (Sheff Utd).
Defenders: Connor Roberts (Burnley), Chris Mepham (Bournemouth), Joe Rodon (Rennes, on loan from Tottenham), Ben Davies (Tottenham), Tom Lockyer (Luton), Ben Cabango (Swansea), Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest), Wes Burns (Ipswich), Ethan Ampadu (Spezia, on loan from Chelsea), Joe Morrell (Portsmouth).
Midfielders: Jordan James (Birmingham), Oli Cooper (Swansea), Luke Harris (Fulham), Sorba Thomas (Blackburn, on loan from Huddersfield), Aaron Ramsey (Nice).
Forwards: Harry Wilson (Fulham), Brennan Johnson (Nottingham Forest), Dan James (Fulham, on loan from Leeds), Kieffer Moore (Bournemouth), Tom Bradshaw (Millwall), Nathan Broadhead (Ipswich).
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