Aaron Ramsey is set to return for Juventus this weekend – less than week after missing Wales’ Euro 2020 qualifier against Croatia because of injury.
The Wales midfielder has trained with his Italian club and is in contention to return from a groin injury to face Genoa in Turin on Saturday.
That will be a mixed blessing for Wales manager Ryan Giggs, who must now hope Ramsey can sustain fitness until Wales’ decisive final qualifiers in Azerbaijan on November 16 and at home to Hungary three days later.
Ramsey missed both Wales’ recent qualifiers – the 1-1 draw against the Croatians and the same scoreline away to Slovakia – after failing to recover in time from the nagging injury problem.
But he trained in Italy yesterday – and was pictured taking part in the session with teammate Cristiano Ronaldo – and may now return for Maurizio Sarri’s team this weekend.
Giggs will be desperate for Ramsey to stay fit over the next three weeks as he faces being without suspended key man Joe Allen for the trip to Baku.
Allen was booked in the late stages of the draw against Croatia, but will be available again for the final game against Hungary.
Ramsey’s unavailability has been a constant theme of Wales’ European Championship qualifying programme, with the 28-year-old yet to feature in the campaign.
The former Arsenal midfielder did train before Wales played Slovakia but the squad eventually flew out without him and his efforts to get fit in time for the Croatia tie proved unsuccessful.
But Ramsey has featured in five of Juve’s last six games and scored his first goal the club two weeks ago against Verona.