Rob Page has appointed Manchester United first-team coach Eric Ramsay as his new Wales assistant ahead of the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign which gets underway this month.
Ramsay, who comes from mid-Wales, began his coaching career at Swansea City before heading to Shrewsbury Town. The Welshman then joined Chelsea in 2019 as their under-23s coach before moving to Manchester United's first team in 2021.
The appointment comes after Page's previous assistant, Kit Symons, lost his job in January following a disappointing showing the World Cup.
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Ramsey, who will combine his role with Wales alongside his duties at Old Trafford, was initially tasked with focusing on set-pieces and technical skills at Manchester United and is highly regarded by the Premier League giants. Indeed, when he was linked with the vacant Barnsley job last summer, United were understood to be pains to keep him.
Erik ten Hag has certainly been impressed and United midfielder Christian Eriksen even credited Ramsay for Marcus Rashford's goal against Nottingham Forest from a well-worked set-piece routine after Christmas. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer labelled the 31-year-old "fresh, young and innovative" when he was first appointed in 2021.
On his new Wales role, Ramsay said: “Having grown up in Llanfyllin, I’m incredibly excited to be joining the Welsh set-up. There’s so much excitement around the national team and its recent success, it’s a great time to be joining.
"With the squad having gone through a slight transition it feels like a new beginning. I’ve already had some good conversations with Rob and Alan Knill, so I think the ingredients are there for it to be an exciting time.”
Wales have also announced a second appointment in the form of West Ham fitness coach Nick Davies, who joins Page's set-up as head of performance. Davies, from Port Talbot, has previously worked for several clubs during their time in the Premier League, including Charlton, Birmingham, Norwich and West Brom.
Of the appointments, Page said: “Nick and Eric will be two great additions to our staff. Nick has a wealth of experience having been involved in top clubs and Eric is arguably one of the best young coaches in football at this moment in time.
"The changes give us an opportunity to build on our success, by drip feeding new players into the squad at the right times. Hopefully in the next 12 months we’ll then have the next batch of players to represent Wales at the top level.”
Ramsay and Davies will be part of the next camp, when Wales travel to Croatia on March 25 before welcoming Latvia to Cardiff City Stadium on March 28.
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