Wales boss Rob Page has questioned the way in which Brennan Johnson's injury was handled by Nottingham Forest.
The 21-year-old sustained a groin injury in Forest's defeat at Tottenham earlier this month, before going on to play the 90 minutes against Newcastle last week. There was hope that Johnson would link up with the Wales team yesterday (Thursday), prior to their trip to Split on Friday.
Wales who will face Croatia on Saturday, have been left without Johnson, who in the end has had withdrawn from the squad with injury. Page has expressed his disappointment following the outcome, saying: "First and foremost I feel for Brennan. He wants to play international football like everybody else.
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"As we know, playing for your country is something very special, it shouldn't be taken for granted, by anyone. Everybody who has got a responsibility for Brennan should respect that and help him in any way they can.
"We were aware of something last week and then he went and played 90 minutes on the Friday and wasn't available to meet up on the Sunday. Like I said, everybody's responsible for him. It's very special to be in that changing room and play for your country.
"You shouldn't take that for granted. The people responsible for him shouldn't take that for granted and should appreciate and respect that as well."
Page regrets not getting Johnson to report to camp to assess his fitness, while adding that Forest having a Welsh manager, proved insignificant of the outcome. "It is not about him [Steve Cooper] being a Welsh manager, he could be English, Scottish, it doesn't matter about the nationality. He's got a job to do, I'm thinking of the player.
"We've got to respect it's an unbelievable honour to play for your country. Where I should have been a little bit stronger is with getting Brennan through the door on Sunday to assess him."
What did you make of Page's words? Tell us in the comments section...
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