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Harry Wilson is driving Wales\u2019 bid for Euro 2024 success after emerging from the shadow of Gareth Bale, says manager Rob Page.<\/p>\n
Wilson kept Wales\u2019 hopes of automatic qualification alive by scoring twice in last month\u2019s stunning 2-1 win over World Cup semi-finalists Croatia, 10 years to the day since becoming his country\u2019s youngest-ever male player at the age of 16 years and 207 days.<\/p>\n
Former captain Bale scored a record 41 goals for Wales before retiring from football in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cH has been around for a long time,\u201d Page said ahead of Wales\u2019 final Euro 2024 qualifiers against Armenia and Turkey that will determine whether they can secure a top-two spot in Group D and avoid the play-offs in March.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the players we had available before in Gareth, Joe Allen and Jonny Williams, perhaps he looked at it, and he was turning up and feeling he was a squad player.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a chat with him in the summer and said: \u2018You are no longer that person or player. You are a big player for us. Look at what you are doing at club level\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo back about 12 months ago, he would turn up and expect to be part of the squad, or if he started he would be substituted on the hour mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the mentality has changed now. He\u2019s playing in the Premier League, scoring goals and creating chances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he plays for us now he\u2019s one of the main men and showed that in the last game. I don\u2019t expect him to come in and just accept playing for 55, 60 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want him to have that mentality that he is one of our top players now and he is going to go and win games for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson won his 50th cap against Croatia and his first international double took him to eight goals for his country.<\/p>\n
The Liverpool product is also benefiting from being settled at Fulham after loan spells at Crewe, Hull, Derby, Bournemouth and Cardiff earlier in his career.<\/p>\n
Page said: \u201cHe has stepped up to the plate. I\u2019m so pleased for him because he\u2019s not just a good player, he\u2019s an absolute diamond of a kid.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said to the young lads up in Wrexham for the Gibraltar game: \u2018Just watch him warm up\u2019. Everything he does is to the nth degree.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the nicest fella you will ever meet off the pitch, but when he crosses that line he\u2019s a model example of what you would want a modern footballer to look like.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see why he has had the career he has and why he is playing in the Premier League, and why he is now getting the plaudits that he has got for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wales will qualify automatically for next summer\u2019s European Championship in Germany by beating Armenia in Yerevan on Saturday and Turkey in Cardiff three days later.<\/p>\n
Page\u2019s side are guaranteed a play-off place through their top-tier status in the last edition of the Nations League.<\/p>\n