Wales boss Robert Page sings the praises of Wrexham ace Paul Mullin

Wales manager Robert Page has lavished praise on Wrexham’s prolific goalscorer Paul Mullin.

With Mullin turning in hugely impressive performances against Championship opposition in the FA Cup, the talk has been of whether the Wales-qualified footballer should earn a call up to the Cymru squad.

In an interview with BBC Sport Wales, Page promised changes to his Wales squad in light of the retirements of Gareth Bale and Joe Allen – and spoke glowingly about the Dragons’ froward.

The 28-year old qualifies for Wales through a Welsh grandmother and has expressed an interest in an international call-up.

Page said he watched the striker in Wrexham’s 3-1 FA Cup defeat at Sheffield United, and liked what he saw.

“I was really impressed with him, he did not give the centre back one minute on the ball,” he said.

“If there was an aerial battle he was there. He was competing all game. And I like that about him.

“And he’s got an eye for goal and he’s got quality as well. So I was really impressed with him.”

Cymru begin their European Championship qualifying campaign away in Croatia on March 25 and at home against Latvia on March 28.

Bagging an impressive goal in the thrilling FA Cup draw against the Blades at the Racecourse, Mullin – who so far has scored 29 goals this season – also impressed in the hard fought replay at Bramall Lane on Tuesday evening.

Despite him currently playing in the National League, the calls for the goal ace to be called up to the Cymru international squad have reached a crescendo on social media.

When back in November 2021, Mullin confirmed he was eligible to play for the country he currently plies his trade in thanks to his Welsh grandmother, there has been a growing belief that he can play at a much higher level.

Haha Nan was born in Wales already registered 🤣🤣

— Paul Mullin (@PMullin7) November 1, 2021

This was of course ably demonstrated by his impressive performances in the FA Cup. And let’s not forget Mullin has also impressed at League One and League Two level, before his headline-hitting transfer to the Racecourse.

In a poll conducted by Nation Cymru almost 70% of the 1,663 votes cast in favour of Mullin getting a call up to Robert Page’s squad.

⚽️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
Should Paul Mullin be called up to the next Cymru squad. 👇

— Nation.Cymru (@NationCymru) January 29, 2023

If Mullin was called up to play for Cymru, he wouldn’t be the first non-league player make his bow in the Welsh squad.

During Wrexham’s first season in the then Conference National League in 2008, defender Steve Evans became the first non-league player to represent Wales for 76 years as a second-half substitute in Wales’ 2–1 defeat away to Russia in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification.

A decade earlier in 1997, Gary Lloyd became the only Welsh Premier League player to be called up to the senior Wales squad after the former Barry Town, Carmarthen Town and Llanelli defender was named by Bobby Gould to face Belgium, where he was an unused substitute.