Aston Villa left-back Neil Taylor has withdrawn from the Wales squad ahead of their crucial Euro 2020 qualifiers against Azerbaijan and Hungary (@Cymru).
The 30-year-old has cited personal reasons for his withdrawal and will be unavailable to Ryan Giggs for both fixtures.
Taylor is a regular in the Welsh squad with 42 caps, although he has only started one of their six qualifying matches so far which was their 2-1 home win against Azerbaijan (Transfermarkt).
For the rest of the fixtures the Aston Villa man has been behind Tottenham’s Ben Davies in the pecking order and it is likely that would have been the case for the upcoming fixtures.
Giggs hasn’t chosen to call-up a replacement for the ex-Swansea City man just yet.
However there were reports last week that he was keeping tabs on Sheffield Wednesday left-back Morgan Fox (Sheffield Star), so he could opt to bring him into the squad as cover for Davies.
As mentioned, it is likely that Taylor wouldn’t have been Giggs’ first pick at left-back and with Davies still available it isn’t too detrimental to them that the Villa man will be missing.
That said, if anything does happen to Davies in either match then they are now short at left-back.
It would be wise for them surely to add another player in that position, just to ensure that they aren’t forced to put someone out of position should something happen.
In better news for the Welsh, Bournemouth defender Chris Mepham is fit and available for the two games (BBC Sport).
Aston Villa fans, when both are fit who would your first choice left-back be, Neil Taylor or Matt Targett? Let us know in the comments below…
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