BROOKS IS BACK!
Page delighted to give Cherries star a Wales recall after cancer battle
DAVID BROOKS has been handed an emotional return to the Wales camp for next month’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Armenia and Turkey.
But while head coach Rob Page was delighted to welcome back the Bournemouth playmaker, he was forced to exclude Luton skipper Tom Lockyer after his collapse in the Championship play-off final at Wembley on Saturday.
“I had a 20 minute conversation with him on Monday and he’s fine,” said Page. “You don’t like to see any player go down injured. Because of how he went down, you do wonder what the reasons were.
“He is in good hands at the minute and it’s for Luton to make a statement with regards to what they are doing. For us it’s just about getting him fit and ready for our camp in September.”
While Page said his backroom medical team would do all they could to assist Luton on Lockyer, he also added they could all take a huge pat on the back when Brooks (above) joins the camp in Portugal next week.
Brooks was confirmed as having Stage 2 Hodgkin lymphoma in October 2021 a week after withdrawing from the Welsh squad due to illness.
“We were all passing comment on how he looked and trained. We had a conversation with the medical team, and they decided there and then to take him for tests,” said Page. It was those tests that identified what he had. He has been grateful to the medical team, and rightly so, and they deserve a lot of credit and now it’s just great for us all to see him back in the place he’s in.”
Brooks announced in May last year that after treatment he was cancer free and he returned to league action with The Cherries in March.
“I wanted to pick him in March. He’d played some minutes before that camp and I wanted to get him involved as soon as possible,” added Page. “He was part of the changes I wanted to make post-world Cup and the way we want to play. I get that it was too quick, too soon, and it was more beneficial for him to stay behind and play for Bournemouth Under-23s in a game that was organised for him.
“But now it’s a different situation. He’s back fit and starting games in the Premier League and he’s got the quality to be in our plans moving forward. I’ve touched base with him and he can’t wait to meet up with the players again in what is going to be an emotional reunion.”
Skipper Aaron Ramsey is set to miss a fourth game in a row with Nice in Ligue I in France, but Page insists his slight calf muscle tear will not stop him from playing next month along with Neco Williams, still recovering from a broken jaw, and Danny Ward, overcoming a dislocated finger.
Page’s side made a positive start to Euro 2024 qualifying in March by drawing 1-1 away to World Cup semifinalists Croatia before beating Latvia 1-0 at home.