Rubin Colwill facing ‘tough 12 months’ to demonstrate his Wales credentials

Rubin Colwill has been told by the Wales management that it is make or break for his international career over the next year.

Colwill has won nine Wales caps and played at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

But Colwill has often found himself out of favour since that tournament – first under Rob Page and now new manager Craig Bellamy – while also being a bit-part player for his club Cardiff in the Sky Bet Championship.

Dilemma

“Rubin is still faced with that dilemma of being on the periphery of the (senior) squad,” said Wales Under-21 manager Matty Jones after naming Colwill in his party for the crunch Euro 2025 qualifier against Czech Republic.

“He has healthy competition in front of him in the senior squad, but at the moment he’s lucky to be eligible to play for the under-21s.

“At least then he can fall back and still have international exposure, but we do know it’s going to be a tough 12 months for him moving forward and one that could make or break his international career.”

Montenegro

Colwill was called up to the Wales squad last month for Nations League ties against Turkey and Montenegro after Leeds winger Daniel James withdrew through injury.

But Colwill did not feature in either game and Bellamy pulled no punches over his development, saying there is “still a lot of work to be done” for the Neath product to fulfil his potential.

Jones said: “When I speak about the excitement around Rubin we know he will have a career and go on and play comfortably for Cardiff – as he has done over the last four games.

“He is the brightest talent Wales have had for a long, long time. It’s up to him to maximise that talent and fulfil that potential we all speak about.

“Craig has come through the door and promoted a lot of the areas and habits, like energy, and it probably goes against someone like Rubin.

“It is those areas I want to improve in his game. We need energy, enthusiasm and someone to be really explosive with their movements.”

Czech Republic

Wales enter their final qualifier against the Czechs in Newport on the same number of points as group leaders Denmark.

Jones’ side are currently one of the best three second-placed teams in the race for a finals spot in Slovakia next summer, but Iceland and Czech Republic have two games in the final round of fixtures and both could yet overtake Wales.

Wales Under-21 squad: L Benjamin (Wolves), E Watts (Swansea), F Stevens (St Pauli), A Williams (Stratford, on loan from West Brom), M Baker (Newport), L Hoole (Shrewsbury), E Turns (Brighton), Z Ashworth (Blackpool), T Davies (Cardiff), C Congreve (Bromley, on loan from Swansea), O Hampson (Sheff Utd), E King (Stevenage, on loan from Cardiff), O Hammond (Oldham), J Cotterill (Swindon, on loan from Swansea), C Savage (Reading), C Crew (Leeds), J Colwill (Cheltenham, on loan from Cardiff), R Colwill, C Ashford (both Cardiff), J Thomas (Bromley, on loan from Swansea), C Popov (Barrow, on loan from Leicester), J Farrell (Villanovense).