In order to participate in the Nations League double header that will take place this month against Iceland and Montenegro, Joe Allen is going to come out of his retirement from international competition and rejoin the Wales squad. On Wednesday morning, Craig Bellamy will make the announcement regarding his team.
The midfielder for Wales, who is 34 years old, resigned from his position with Wales a couple of months after the 2022 World Cup, which was held in Qatar. Following this, the former captain Gareth Bale and the defender Chris Gunter withdrew totally from their respective positions.
After the injuries sustained by Wales captain Aaron Ramsey and Ethan Ampadu increased the urgency of finding options in the midfield position, Bellamy, the manager of Wales, was successful in persuading Allen to return to the international squad. Allen, who has 74 caps, has taken Wales to the semifinals of three major championships, with his first appearance being in the semi-finals of the 2016 European Championship.
The knee ailment that Ampadu, the captain of Leeds, is suffering from might keep him out of action for up to four months, and Ramsey is out of action due to a hamstring issue. Jordan James, who moved to Rennes from Birmingham in the summer, Josh Sheehan of Bolton, Charlie Savage of Reading, and Oli Cooper, who is a clubmate of Allen, are among the fit midfielders for Wales.
Allen was “excited” about the possibility of returning to Wales, according to Luke Williams, the head coach of Swansea, who stated this last week. In order to discuss the possibility of a return, Bellamy met with Williams and Allen the previous month. The Bellamy era started off with a victory in Montenegro and an interesting draw against Turkey. Both of these matches took place a month ago. In July, Bellamy took over for Rob Page, who had previously been his colleague for Wales.
Williams said the following in response to a question on Allen’s potential return to Wales before Ampadu’s injury: “I don’t think this is a distraction for him, but it is a welcome change of scenery and chance to be reinvigorated.” I seriously doubt that Craig is seriously considering the possibility that Joe will be required to play two games for a total of ninety minutes during the international break.