It is usually the manager who pulls a player to one side before or after training to offer a word of advice or appreciation. But it was the other way round with Craig Bellamy and Wes Burns. Wales winger Burns says he made a point of pulling Bellamy aside to thank him for the "massive" support he gave him after a career-threatening knee injury that ended his Premier League dream in 2025.
Without Bellamy's backing, Burns said, his Wales career might have gone the same way. "The world of football forgets you very, very fast when you're not playing," said the 31-year-old, who's back with the national team for the first time in two years. "But when someone of Craig Bellamy's stature, the head coach of Wales, is calling me every month, or once every two weeks, to make sure I'm doing well... it's a massive, massive plus.
"Rather than feeling a million miles away, it always made me feel I was in touching distance of getting back in." You can understand why Burns initially feared the worst. He was out for almost a year after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament during Ipswich Town's defeat at Liverpool in January 2025. By the time he returned, 11 months later, Ipswich were back in the Championship, and Burns was off Wales' radar as they prepared for their ultimately unsuccessful bid to reach the 2026 World Cup via the play-offs.
The Cardiff-born winger was never completely off Bellamy's mind, though, and now he wants to make up for lost international minutes by playing a part in the Nations League campaign that began with Thursday's 1-0 defeat in Portugal. Live on BBC iPlayer, BBC One Wales, BBC Sounds, BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru and 5 Live, BBC Sport website and app, plus live text commentary. Burns did not make it off the subs' bench in Lisbon, but hopes to get some minutes in Wales' second Nations League tie against Denmark in Copenhagen on Sunday, 27 October.
After the injury trauma that cut short his fairytale journey from League One to the Premier League with Ipswich, though, he is just pleased to be back on the international scene at all. "You just have to remember you're only one second away from disaster, really," said Burns. "That's how I felt when the injury happened.
You feel that could be the end of your career because you never know how bad the injury is initially. "And when you've had surgery, and your knee's like a balloon, you're thinking 'how on earth am I even going to walk again, never mind play'. "Everything heals in time, though, and it was just about making sure I got the rehab right.
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