Rob Page admits Gareth Bale’s return to the Real Madrid fold is a “bonus” after the Wales caretaker manager named his 27-man squad for the upcoming international break.
George Thomas, Brennan Johnson and James Lawrence have been included, replacing Ben Cabango and Connor Roberts in the only changes from the Euro 2020 squad.
Wales travel to Finland for a friendly on September 1 before resuming their World Cup qualifying campaign against Belarus – in Russia – four days later. Page’s side then host Estonia on September 8, with all three matches live on Sky Sports.
- Covid to stop away fans attending September’s World Cup qualifiers
- VAR to be used in European World Cup qualifiers
- Qatar says only vaccinated fans allowed at 2022 World Cup
Wednesday 1st September 4:55pm
Kick off 5:00pm
Bale is just four matches away from reaching 100 caps for Wales, and after two starts and one goal in La Liga upon the forward’s return to Real Madrid, Page is delighted to see the Wales captain has “got the bug back” for football.
“It’s great news. You want all your players playing competitive football when they come on camp,” Page told Sky Sports News.
Bale started and scored in Real Madrid's 3-3 draw with Levante on the weekend
“To get any of your players playing week in, week out is a bonus, but when you’ve got Gareth playing now and finding he’s got the bug back again, which I saw in some of his performances for Tottenham at the back end of last season, is great news for us.”
Bale dismissed talk he would retire from international football after Wales’ last-16 exit to Denmark at the Euros, and Page said there have been no discussions with the 32-year-old regarding his future.
“GET CONTE IN!”???? Darren Bent says Arsenal should SACK Mikel Arteta & replace him with Antonio Conte
