Rambo to take on Wales skipper duty
ROB Page admitted Aaron Ramsey is the ‘natural choice’ to captain Wales during the upcoming international break.
Regular skipper Gareth Bale was left out of the squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Czech Republic and Estonia due to a hamstring injury.
But Juventus star Ramsey - who is yet to feature in his country’s latest qualifying campaign – will take the armband in the absence of Bale.
“We saw him in training today, he inspires the players. After Baleo, he’s the natural one for me,” explained Page.
“We’ve got Chris Gunter who is an absolute leader, he doesn’t need to wear the armband. We’ve got Joe Allen in the middle of the park, Danny Ward. I’ve got an abundance of senior players in that changing room that are superb and don’t need the armband, but for this one it’ll be Rambo.
“Aaron’s trained really well. Aaron’s learning now the older he gets to manage his body, from a conditioning point of view.
“He’s taken it upon himself to employ other physios and fitness coaches to maintain that level that he got to in the Euros in the summer.
“He hadn’t played many minutes coming into the Euros. The levels he got to and the consistency throughout the tournament that he got, I expect exactly the same from this camp. We haven’t got Gareth on this occasion, but we’ve got DJ [Daniel James] who is enjoying his football at the minute. Kieffer [Moore] is a constant threat, and when you’ve got people like Aaron on the team sheet, opposition managers will take note.
“In big games, he steps up to the plate, and this is a big game.”
Ramsey has featured just four times for Juventus this season, with only one of those outings being a start.
And Page says he would love to see former Arsenal man Ramsey return to the Premier League so he could showcase his talents on a regular basis.
“All I know is, I’ve got a great player.
We’ve all seen glimpses of what he’s capable of doing in the summer,” added Page.
“I thought he was outstanding. Having worked with him for the first time in an intense environment, it is a crying shame he’s not playing weekin week-out. I’d love to see him in the Premier League.
“The supporters need to be watching him to see him. Watching him in training today, he does things, it takes your breath away. We all know what he’s capable of.” And when asked about Page’s comments, Ramsey responded: “Of course I’d like to myself playing more. It’s been frustrating.
“I’m just happy to be back involved in an environment I’m used to. I’m looking forward to this week and we’ll deal with everything else afterwards.”
Wales are level with Czech Republic on seven points in Group E, although Page’s men have a game in hand over Jaroslav Silhavy’s side.
The Red Dragons take on Czech Republic in Prague at 7.45pm tonight. They then face Estonia in Tallinn three days later.