ROB THE BUILDER
Wales boss will put faith in more kids for World Cup campaign as he focuses on future
ROB PAGE will ramp up his youth revolution with Wales ahead of next year’s World Cup qualifiers.
The Red Dragons chief plans to fast-track more of his emerging stars into the senior set-up after overseeing a rapid transition from the Gareth Bale era.
Page, who was yesterday backed by the Welsh FA to continue after speculation he might be asked to leave, has earned the right to finish the job he started after Dan James’s missed penalty in the play-off shoot-out against Poland scuppered plans for a trip to Germany for the Euros this summer.
The former Port Vale boss placed his faith in players such as Birmingham City’s Jordan James (19), Tottenham’s
Brennan Johnson (22), Nottingham Forest’s Neco Williams (22), and Leeds United’s Ethan Ampadu (23).
He wants to plunder the Under-21s with his eyes fixed on Liverpool’s Lewis Koumas (below, top), Fulham midfielder Luke Harris (middle), and Reading’s Charlie Savage (bottom).
He said: “My focus is building on what we have already started. We’ve got games in June, the Nations League this autumn, and then a World Cup qualifying campaign.
“We can use those games to put in younger players. We will continue to add youth. I’m keen to get as many young players up to the first team as quickly as possible.
“It has to be done in the right way.” Page’s approach mirrors the John Toshack reign almost two decades ago. Toshack blooded youngsters such as Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Wayne Hennessey, Chris Gunter and Joe Ledley.
Eventually the core of that group qualified for the Euros eight years ago, paving the way for a period of success. Page added: “It’s important to keep evolving. We don’t have to do it as quickly as John did. I was just finishing as a player when John made those changes, he had to make wholesale changes. They were drastic, brave, and they were right. We’ve all benefitted from those decisions. So it’s important to keep introducing those young players.
“The first conversation I had when Ryan Giggs took over and I was with the Under-21s was, ‘Which young players have we got to come up?’
“He was talking about the Joe Rodons, Chris Mephams, and Joe Morrells of the world. These players were fasttracked because that’s what Ryan wanted to do. We had that transition with Ryan like we had with John.
“Now we’ve seen young Koumas come up. He scored on his debut for the Under-21s the other night so there’s a new generation that we can turn to.
“Not straight away. But now that we are on this path, we’re going to get better from having these experiences with young players.
“I’m using Koumas because he’s been exposed to highpressure situations and that will only benefit us in the future.we can use these upcoming games to blood those younger players. This is a good group and we are going places.”
Wales face Montenegro, Iceland and Turkey in the Nations League between September and November. The Welsh are 9-4 to finish top of the group.