Paul Bodin: “It’s exciting times” – EURO 2023 draw reaction

28th January 2021 Callum Nixon Student Work 0
Image: Callum Ellis

By Callum Nixon

WALES U21s have received a difficult qualifying group for the next European championships due to take place in the summer of 2023. 

Paul Bodin’s side have been placed in group E for the qualifying stage and will face two finalists in this year’s tournament finals in the Netherlands and Switzerland. Wales will also face Bulgaria, Gibraltar and Moldova who Wales triumphed over in their penultimate qualifying match of the 2021 qualifying campaign winning 3-0 at the Racecourse.

Due to tournament regulations, Bodin will be without 10 players due to age restrictions as well as players being promoted to the Wales senior squad since the last european qualifying campaign in 2020.

Wales are planning to establish a training camp in March as a replacement for the games which will not be taking place due to COVID-19 restrictions. With Wales’ first fixture due to take place at some point in June, the training camp will be a great opportunity for Bodin to get to work with the new faces in the squad. Bodin wasn’t getting ahead of himself after the draw with his focus on bringing all his players up to fitness for the upcoming qualifying fixtures.

“We’re just looking forward to the training camp in March as opposed to a game all being well. Then we’ll be looking at our first fixture in June.”

Despite losing 10 players due to age restrictions, Bodin will still have a great array of talent to call upon. The likes of Ethan Ampadu, Rabbi Matondo, Neco Williams, Dylan Levitt, Brennan Johnson and Ben Cabango. Despite still having these players to call upon, Bodin has his doubts that they will drop down from the Wales senior team.

Bodin was excited at the chance of adding some of the younger players into his squad with some players being born in 2003,

“Players like Finley Stevens who has broken into Brentford’s team, he’s an ’03. He’s a lad who we have not had in the system. We are well aware he is eligible (to play) for Wales. So there is a couple of players on the peripheral and if they are doing well at their clubs, we’ll move them up as quickly as we feel is right to do so.”

Manchester United’s, Dylan Levitt who started the season on loan to Charlton Athletic in League One returned to the Premier League club after the recall option was triggered by Manchester United. A promising player held in high regard by those at United’s Carrington base has already played for Wales at a senior level when Wales beat Finland in the UEFA Nations League. Since then The Bodelwyddan-born prospect has earned four caps for his country.

With United not pleased with the game time Levitt was receiving at the League One club the decision was made to recall him with a view for another loan for the talented midfielder. In the summer, Levitt reportedly had interest from a number of Dutch clubs. It may do Levitt wonders to try his skill set in an alternative league with a view of consistent first team action. A decision which will no doubt please Paul Bodin if he does see Levitt drop back down into the U21s from the Wales senior team.

When asked about Levitt’s potential return to the U21s Bodin had this to say,

“They’ve (Brennan Johnson & Dylan Levitt) been on the peripheral of the seniors. So maybe they could drop down. It would be a blessing for us to have the extra experience. These boys are quality players and we need as many quality players as possible. But there are younger players who are breaking into various teams. It’s exciting times.”

Bodin will be hoping to go the extra step in this qualifying campaign after narrowly missing out last year. With two finalists in this years qualifying group in the Netherland and Switzerland, Bodin and his players face a tough task to qualify for the tournament in 2023. If Bodin is gifted a few senior players still eligible for the U21s it could make their task just that little bit easier. However, the whole idea around the U21s is for players to move on into the senior squad so Bodin will already be well prepared if some of his more ‘experienced’ players aren’t at his disposal this time around.