RAMBO RETURNS
Ramsey’s injury nightmare over
AARON RAMSEY is ready to put his twoyear injury nightmare behind him to try to fire Wales to Euro glory.
The midfielder says no one has been more frustrated than him by continually missing international games.
Ramsey, 30, has struggled with a succession of muscle injuries since leaving Arsenal to join Italian giants Juventus and his commitment to the cause has been questioned by some Wales fans.
He was a star of the 2016 Euros semi-finals team but in the past five years Wales have played more internationals without him than with him.
Ramsey has played in only 19 of the 44 games since the heroics of that tournament but says his sense of pride pulling on the red shirt has never burned more brightly.
He said: “I’m a proud Welshman who wants to play for Wales and help my team as much as I can. “For me to have missed a few games now over the last few years has been very frustrating and difficult for me.
“Hopefully now that’s behind me and I can look forward to all these games in the European Championship.
“We’re all excited to be going into it, so we’ve got a lot to look forward to. Not just me, a lot of the players who haven’t experienced this before too.
“They’re really buzzing and we just can’t wait for the first whistle to go. I feel like I am in a good place. “I’ve worked hard over the last few months.
“It’s been a frustrating couple of years to try and get any consistency going but I’ve definitely worked hard over the last few months to get my body back into a good place.
“I feel the last few years have been frustrating. Different environment, different methods. It’s not something I’ve
been used to. I was at one club for a very long time and I think adapting to that took a lot longer. I’ve had to change a few things.”
Wales kick off in Group A against Switzerland in Baku on Saturday afternoon but Ramsey reckons it’s impossible to draw comparisons with 2016.
He added: “It’s a very difficult group. It’s going to be essential, not just for me but for all the players that have experienced it all before, to help the other boys through this.
“They’re a good bunch with a lot of quality between them. I’m sure they’ll be just fine. We can’t wait to get going.”