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| Venue: Cardiff City Stadium, Date: Thursday, 7 September Kick off: 19:45 BST |
| Coverage: Live on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Sounds, BBC Sport website and app, plus live text |
| Highlights: Match of the Day Wales. BBC One Wales from 22:40 BST and later on demand |
Wales boss Robert Page has recalled Tom Lockyer for their September games against South Korea and Latvia following the Luton Town captain’s recovery from heart surgery.
Lockyer was set to return to Wales duty before his collapse in the Championship final play-off at Wembley in May.
However, Leeds United’s Dan James has been ruled out by injury.
Meanwhile Page has included uncapped trio Tom King, Morgan Fox and Liam Cullen and recalled Josh Sheehan.
Queens Park Rangers defender Fox earns his call up at the age of 29 while 24-year-old Swansea City striker Cullen also has a chance to progress at international level.
Winger James has an abductor problem.
Bolton Wanderers’ Sheehan, 28, is back after last being involved with Wales in 2021.
Wolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper King played for England at age-grade level, but qualifies for Wales via his Welsh father.
Lockyer suffered an atrial fibrillation, a condition the NHS describes as causing “an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate”.
Centre-back Lockyer has not played for Wales since September 2021, though he was part of their squad at last year’s the 2022 World Cup as well as Euro 2020.
He was named in the Championship team of the year after helping Luton reach the Premier League in 2022-23.
Before promotion Lockyer had spent his entire career below the top flight.
Page said: “It’s a great story. We all watched the events unfold in the play off final. We were all concerned, but there has been nothing but positivity since that day.
“He has had some great news, he is back to normal and is now playing in the Premier League, which is unbelievable for him as well.
“It is always going to be a challenge when you get promoted to the Premier League, Luton have done really well to be where they are at with the resources they have available to them.
“But for him personally he should be very proud of how he has recovered after it. A dream for him was to play in the Premier League and he has achieved that.”
The Wales boss does not believe James’s injury is “too serious”.
“But it puts him out of this camp, unfortunately,” said Page.
“It’s probably about a three-week injury so we could push and push him, but we would not have had him at his best. And it would be like pushing him to the day before the Latvia game.
“I don’t think Leeds would want that and we need people on the grass fit and ready to go because it is obviously an important game for us.
“We have seen the scan results and it was an easy decision for us in the end to leave him out.”
Wales return to action with a friendly at Cardiff City Stadium against South Korea on Thursday, 7 September before a Euro 2024 qualifier in Latvia four days later.
Wales have won only one of their past 12 games, with defeats by Armenia and Turkey in June severely damaging hopes of qualifying for Euro 2024.
Wales are fourth in the five-team Group D, with just one win from four matches leaving them with only the slimmest hopes of qualifying automatically and potentially relying on a play-off in March to reach next year’s tournament in Germany.
Football Association of Wales (FAW) bosses conducted a review of the defeats against Armenia and Turkey – as they do after every international window – and decided to stick with Page.
Page has accepted “full responsibility” for his side’s plight and hopes there has been an improvement in his players’ match fitness after worries over a lack of game time for their clubs.
Summer moves for the likes of captain Aaron Ramsey, centre-back Joe Rodon and midfielder Ethan Ampadu could help resolve that problem.
Wales squad: Hennessey, Ward, King, B Davies, Fox, Rodon, Cabango, Mepham, Lockyer, N Williams, Roberts, Burns, Ampadu, Sheehan, J James, Morrell, Wilson, Ramsey, Moore, Broadhead, Johnson, Brooks, Bradshaw, Cullen.
