Saints sweating on star man Brooks after Wales wobble

SOUTHAMPTON will be sweating on the fitness of David Brooks ahead of Middlesbrough’s visit, with the Saints star man subbed on and then off again in Wales’ Euro 2024 qualifying defeat to Poland on Tuesday evening.

Brooks joined Southampton on loan in the January transfer window from Bournemouth and has quickly established himself as an important player in Russell Martin’s side. He has two goals and three assists in eight appearances so far and added a goal and assist for Wales last week in their 4-1 Euro qualification semi-final victory over Finland.

However, Brooks was only able to play a short period for his country on Tuesday evening as they suffered heartbreak against Poland in their attempts to secure their place in Germany this summer. Subbed on with just six minutes of normal time remaining, the 26-year-old was then withdrawn in the 112th minute.

Wales boss Rob Page said: “Brooksy has been ill since Thursday. He has not trained a minute on the grass. He was a gamble. Someone of Brooksy’s quality, you want to get them on the pitch.

“We realised straight away that he didn’t have a run in him. He admitted that. It was a tough one. We had to bring Broady on because we just wanted to get over the line and make sure that we had legs to do that.”

Brooks has been in fine form and had 10-goal contributions in his last 10 appearances for club and country prior to his brief cameo in Cardiff on Tuesday evening.

He’d have been expected to start against Boro but with doubts over his fitness, Martin may need a rethink ahead of the game.