Wales fear that Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey will be sidelined with a hamstring injury for the World Cup qualifiers at the start of next month.
The 25-year-old picked up the issue in the first Premier League game of the season against Liverpool at the Emirates on August 14, and has failed to feature for the Gunners since.
Although he has now returned to training, he isn’t expected to be available for selection against Chelsea this weekend, and now the Welsh FA have revealed their fears that Ramsey won’t be ready for the qualifiers next month either which pushes his return date further back.
According to the Evening Standard, Wales haven’t yet decided as to whether or not Ramsey will be called up, but based on the assessment given below, they certainly don’t sound too optimistic about it.
“There is concern because he has been out for so long,” assistant manager Osian Roberts said.
“It’s extremely disappointing after the magnificent tournament Aaron had at the Euros that he picked up an injury in the opening game of the season.
“It’s a huge disappointment for him and for all of us. But let’s just hope the situation improves for him over the next week or so.”
Particularly given his performances earlier in the summer in France, Ramsey will undoubtedly be hugely frustrated not to have had the chance to build on that and make a strong start to the Premier League campaign.
Instead, he will have to continue to watch on from the sidelines and that will be a blow for Arsene Wenger too who will want to have a full squad to choose from sooner rather than later with the fixture list becoming increasingly busy.