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If Barnsley defender Ben Williams wanted to test himself at international level then he has not had to go much further than the Wales training sessions.
Ben WilliamsBen Williams
Ben Williams

The young left-back was rewarded for a fine breakout season with the Reds last season with a debut call-up for his country.

Williams was selected for a training camp in Portugal, along with team-mates Adam Davies and Kieffer Moore, and then made the cut for the Euro 2020 qualifiers squad for games against Croatia and Hungary.

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Although he did not make the squad for the game against last summer's World Cup finalists on Saturday – a game Wales lost 2-1 – he has been up against in training sessions, having to mark Gareth Bale.

The Real Madrid winger may be out of favour at the Bernabeu but he is still Wales' star man, which meant Williams had to be careful.

“It’s been really good – I feel like I’ve coped quite well with it,” the 19-year-old said. “I’ve been trying to hold back, especially with him being one of our important players, but I’ve let him know he’s in a game.

“It’s good to have players like that in the team to try and model yourself on and see how they go about their duties off the pitch. “But he’s really down to earth and spoke to all the young lads, so it’s quite a tight-knit group.”

Wales' next game is against Hungary in Budapest on Tuesday, where Williams and Moore, who was also not involved in the matchday squad, hope to enter Ryan Giggs' thoughts.