Watch: Wonder strike has Wales fans all asking the same question

He’s been capped at U21 level, and qualifies for Wales through his father, but when Niall Huggins scored a stunning strike for Sunderland last night, it left many fans of the international side all asking the same question – why hasn’t he earned a senior call up?

Putting in a man of the match performance in Sunderland’s 2-0 victory at home against Watford, he picked the ball up on the right flank, the full back cutting inside beating one man, nutmegging another before rifling the ball into the net leaving the hapless Hornets’ keeper with no chance of stopping his sublime shot.

It earned comparisons to Messi and Maradona on social media, and to cap it all, it was Huggins’ first goal in professional football. What a way to do it.

The 22-year-old who has previously made four appearances for the Welsh U21s, has been a regular in a Sunderland side who have impressed hugely in the Championship this season.

Signed by the Wearsiders on a four year deal from Leeds United in 2021, the defender’s career has been hampered by long-term injury setbacks.

However, he is now fit and firing, showing Sunderland fans just what he is capable of. His side sit fourth in the Championship table and the Welsh defender has been one of their star players thus fas this season.

With Robert Page announcing his latest squad and including a number of younger uncapped players such as Owen Beck and Charlie Savage, who both play at a lower level than the Sunderland player, it has prompted the question as to why Huggins hasn’t been given an opportunity of a senior Welsh cap.

While he hasn’t made Page’s squad this time, if he continues in this rich vein of form it can only be a matter of time before he earns a senior squad call up.

Don’t want to get carried away but I think Niall Huggins might be the reincarnation of Diego Maradona pic.twitter.com/uNlztH05cK

— Welsh Fan Zone TV 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@WelshFanZoneTV) October 4, 2023

An alternative angle of Niall Huggins’ goal for Sunderland last night 😍

Should he have been in Rob Page’s Cymru squad for the upcoming internationals? 🤔🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 pic.twitter.com/7jdOe5By2F

— welshfootie (@welshfootie) October 5, 2023