Wales boss Craig Bellamy not concerned by Ben Davies’ lack of game-time

Wales boss Craig Bellamy insists captain Ben Davies’ limited game-time at Tottenham is not an issue for him ahead of the World Cup play-offs in March.

Davies had to wait until Saturday to make his first Premier League start of the season, scoring a rare goal in the 1-1 home draw with Sunderland.

The 32-year-old defender is Tottenham’s longest serving player, having joined the club from Swansea in the summer of 2014.

But his place on the periphery under boss Thomas Frank has led to suggestions that he could leave Spurs in January.

Davies said after the Sunderland draw that his future “is out of my hands”, with Ligue 1 club Nice reportedly among those monitoring the situation.

Bellamy, however, is confident that Davies will be ready for Wales’ bid to reach a second successive World Cup this summer, no matter how much action he has over the next few months.

“We’ll deal with it. There’s no issue, what you’ve got to see now is these boys live it,” Bellamy said.

“These boys train, they manage themselves and know how to manage themselves.

“OK, nothing will get anywhere close to a game, but they manage their training load and then we go bigger.

“I’ve been here a year-and-a-half now and Ben has never been a regular (at Tottenham).

“I’ve got to be honest, he’s been our best player. He was incredible against Canada (in September).

“Certain players are top, such good pros, they know what they need and they gear themselves ready for that period.”

Davies suffered a hamstring injury against Belgium in October when he became only the fourth Wales men’s player to win 100 caps.

The injury ruled him out for several weeks and came just a few days after he had played against England in a Wembley friendly.

“The problem is when we have two games in such a short space of time we have to be conscious that (players) might get an injury,” said Bellamy, who has that issue facing him with a World Cup play-off semi-final at home to Bosnia and Herzegovina on March 26 and potentially a final against Northern Ireland or Italy five days later.

“If you look at a lot of games, I’ll change a lot of players.

“I know that always causes a panic for everyone, but the simple fact is I have to because (after) 60 minutes he (a player) has gone.

“If we do more than 60 minutes he can’t play the next game. Certain players can’t play two games in such a short space of time.

“So how do we manage that and those minutes? That’s where we have to be responsible in respect of management.”