AARON RAMSEY

NO.10 CAPS 75 2008 TO PRESENT DAY GOALS 20

THE BEST player to come through the Welsh club system in decades, you just knew Ramsey was destined for the top the moment you set eyes upon him as a teenager.

Absolutely oozed class for Cardiff City, who ended up selling him to Arsenal for a scandalously low transfer fee of just £5million – made worse by the fact chairman Peter Ridsdale didn’t insert a sell-on clause. The big guns each wanted Rambo.

Broke his leg early in his Arsenal career, but showed mental fortitude to go with his undoubted playing ability to bounce back and make more than 250 appearances for the Gunners, including FA Cup wins and Wembley goals. Joined Juventus and heads into the World Cup as a Nice player in the French league.

Marked his name down very early for international stardom with a man-of-the-match goalscoring display for Wales under-21s against Italy, followed by equally impressive performances against England.

He struck home such a wonder goal in one match against England that it led to their boss Stuart Pearce immediately substituting the opponent who was supposed to be marking Ramsey.

John Toshack gave Ramsey his senior debut at the age of just 17 in a 1-0 win away to Denmark and he has been pretty much a fixture since, central to everything Wales have achieved.

The best midfielder in Euro 2016, Ramsey then bagged the goals against Hungary that qualified Wales for the next Euros as well.

Wales probably have never had a better midfield playmaker. It was often said that teams from yesteryear possessed brilliant strikers and defenders, but lacked that control and craft from the engine room.

Were Ramsey around back then, those other sides would almost certainly have qualified, too. He has been that good and hopes to really make his mark on the world stage next out in Qatar.