‘New generation of Wales players can forge their own success’ says Ramsey

• Aaron Ramsey is the new national captain of Wales.
• He replaced Gareth Bale, who retired in January.
• Ben Davies has been ruled out of the two qualifiers.

After Gareth Bale retires, Aaron Ramsey believes a new generation of Wales players can forge their own success.

Ramsey is the new national captain, succeeding former Real Madrid and Tottenham forward Bale, who retired in January.

Wales’ record goal-scorer and most-capped player, Gareth Bale, was not the only senior player to retire from international football following the World Cup in Qatar.

Chris Gunter, Joe Allen, and Jonny Williams also left Wales after a successful career that included a run to the Euro 2016 semi-finals.

Wales manager Rob Page is ushering in a new era, and Ramsey is confident that his country will be competitive during the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.

“Gareth, Joe, Jonny, Gunts have been instrumental for us over the years and will forever be a part of Welsh history,” Nice midfielder Ramsey, 32, said on Monday.

“We will be forever grateful for what they brought to this team, this nation, and we´ll miss those players around the place.

“But football is forever changing and there´ll be opportunities for these younger players to step up and show what they´re capable of. Hopefully now we can create our own history.”

Wales hopes to compete in the European Championship in Germany for the third time in a row next year.

On Saturday, they play Croatia in Split before hosting Latvia on March 28. Group D is completed by Armenia and Turkey.

The qualifiers come after a disappointing 2022 World Cup campaign in Qatar. Page’s team only scored once and finished bottom of their group in their first World Cup appearance since 1958.

“It was disappointing,” said former Arsenal and Juventus player Ramsey. “You have a big build-up going into it, the first time for many years Wales had qualified.

“You want to go there and show what you are capable of doing, but we didn´t quite get to the level we are used to.”

Tottenham defender Ben Davies has been ruled out of the two qualifiers, with Morgan Fox taking his place.

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