New Wales boss Craig Bellamy insists FAW won’t stop him from selecting Rangers star Tom Lawrence as he reacted to claims of his international exile being down to his involvement in a car crash incident while at Derby County.
Lawrence has been capped 25 times for his country but hasn’t been included in the Dragons squad for two years. While at Derby County, Lawrence’s then Rams boss Wayne Rooney claimed it was “personal” with former Wales manager Rob Page and that there was “a bit of history” between the pair.
Page denied that accusation in September 2022 and said Lawrence had simply been overlooked due to the emergence of young forwards such as Brennan Johnson and Rubin Colwill. Page has since been axed and replaced by former Celtic loan hero Bellamy who has chosen not to recall Lawrence for Friday’s Nations League tie in Iceland and the Cardiff clash with Montenegro three days later before the player’s subsequent injury.
Bellamy, however, says he is free to select Lawrence who was involved in a the September 2019 accident that left then Derby colleague Richard Keogh seriously injured. The 30-year-old, who was ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work and disqualified from driving for two years after a district judge said he had considered jailing Lawrence, has not played since a friendly win over Mexico in March 2021 amid suggestions that some Football Association of Wales officials were unhappy with his inclusion in squads.
Asked if that was the case, Bellamy said: “No, not at all. I’ve never once heard anything of that. It’s just the numbers.” Bellamy has also said Lawrence is a victim of competition in overlooking him for the two Wales squads he has picked, even though the Wrexham-born attacker is one of the few players available currently playing in European club competition.
He said: “I have a certain amount of numbers I can go to. Tom is definitely a player I really like, but at this present moment there’s one or two players I’ve put in those positions.”
Lawrence has been in impressive form and scored his fourth goal of the season against Lyon in the Europa League last week before suffering a hamstring injury and revealed last month that he had held talks with Bellamy over a possible return to the international fold.
Lawrence said: “I spoke to the manager before the international break this month (September). We’ll have another chat and see where we’re at. But there’s no pressure on it, it’s pretty open on both sides. I’m not going to say I should be in this or be in that. It was open to go there last time but we felt it was right with the injuries I’ve had in the past just to keep going and make sure I get good training here.”