Gareth Bale says the upcoming crop of talent has been down to the strides Wales have made over the last number of years.
Players like Ben Woodburn, Daniel James, David Brooks and Ethan Ampadu have opted to play for Wales, despite being eligible to play for other countries.
Part of the decision-making process in choosing Wales has been down to their success in the European Championships in 2016, Bale believes.
Bale said: “The success we have had over the last four or five years has made us a little bit of a force in international football in terms of now wanting to choose Wales instead of other countries.
“We feel like all the hard work we have done is making that happen. They are excited to come with us and feel like they can make a major tournament with us.
“We have a lot of youngsters coming through now so these are exciting times for us, but we need to perform on the pitch now.”
He missed the last three games of the La Liga season last May and was subject to a move to China in the summer.
Injuries played a part last season, missing five league games due to injury, scoring only eight times and assisting four.
Bale though has continued to soldier on and has started Madrid’s opening two fixtures of the season, assisting once and scoring twice.
The 30-year-old though has dismissed calls that it could be the worse spell of career, recalling a time where he wasn’t in Harry Redknapp’s plans at Tottenham Hotspur.
“It’s obviously not been great. I wouldn’t say it’s the worst time of my career. I remember not playing for a year under Harry Redknapp, revealed Bale.
“It’s not been ideal but I have been here before, I know how to deal with it. It’s about keeping the head down, keep working hard and I think you always get rewarded for the work you put it.
“I have kept my head down, kept grinding through everything. I had a good pre-season in terms of training – not so much in games – then started the season well.
“Things in football I know can turn quickly. It’s a matter of time always.”
Bale featured in Wales’ two defeats in the summer to Croatia and Hungary.
The two games were played in the middle of June, coming off the backend of the league season.
The Real Madrid star said he wasn’t as match fit as he’d have liked in the two qualifying defeats, but that he was prepared for the task in hand against Azerbaijan.
“I don’t think mentally it affected me at all but maybe not playing for four, five, six weeks coming into those games, physically I wasn’t where I wanted to be,” admitted Bale.
“It was a bit frustrating but those games are over now and we have to forget about them and look to the future. Now it’s a must-win – we need to win tomorrow and get back on track. That’s what we aim to do.
“I feel good. I feel probably stronger than ever at the moment. When you get older you learn from mistakes in the past, doing a bit more prevention work in the gym and keeping yourself fitter.
“I feel in very good shape, hopefully, I can stay on top of that and continue to keep playing well.”
(Featured Image: Lewis Mitchell)
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