Newport County striker Momodou Touray set for Wales under-21 debut at Rodney Parade

The 19-year-old striker, who was born in the Gambia, has already played for Wales at under-19 level and his fine form on loan with Barry Town United saw him added to Rob Page’s under-21s squad yesterday.

Touray, who is on a season-long loan at Barry from County, is the first Welsh Premier League player to be called up to the under-21s since Llanelli Town forward Jordan Follows back in 2009.

And he’ll feel right at home for tomorrow night’s final Euro 2019 qualifier against Switzerland in Newport (kick-off 6pm).

Touray joins former County defender Regan Poole and current Exiles loan star Mark Harris in the squad and Page says the striker will be given a chance to show what he can do against the Swiss.

“I’ve spoken to a couple of coaches about Mo and obviously my assistant Paul Bodin knows him really well from the under-19s,” said the under-21s boss.

“And Richy Williams, who is Paul’s coach this week for their friendly, speaks very highly of Mo because he works with him at Barry.

“It was an opportunity to get him in and have a look at him and no doubt he will get some minutes.”

The news comes as another big boost for the teenager who started out in the County in the Community futsal team before going on to become a key part of Byron Anthony’s talented Youth Alliance Merit League-winning under-18 side in 2017.

Touray enjoyed a loan spell with Merthyr Town last season and a ‘work experience trial’ with Premier League Leicester City before signing his first professional contract with the Exiles in April and making his League Two debut at Carlisle United in May.

The call-up is also another feather in the cap for the County academy and the Exiles under-18s joined in with a training session run by Page at Rodney Parade this morning.

“I’ve not been here for years and I’m really impressed with the set-up here and really impressed with the pitch,” said Page.

“We’ve got a way we want to play, and it does help when you’ve got a nice pitch to get the ball down and play.

“It’s a credit to the club [County]. They obviously want success and they’ve given themselves the best chance of doing it.

“It will be good to finish our campaign here in south Wales,” he added. “In the main we’ve been up in north Wales so hopefully we’ll get a good turnout and people will come and support the boys.”

Wales lost their penultimate qualifier to group leaders Romania 2-0 in Cluj on Friday, but they are aiming to end the campaign on a winning note against a Swiss side they beat 3-0 away last year.

“It’s a big game for us because we want to finish as high up the table as we possibly can,” said Page.

“A draw will ensure we finish above Switzerland, but we want to finish the campaign on a high and win the game.

“We beat them 3-0 away so obviously they’ll have an axe to grind with us.

“We played very well in that game and six of the lads are now with the first team.”

Dan James is the latest to graduate to Ryan Giggs’ senior team as a replacement for Aaron Ramsey for tomorrow night’s Nations League clash with the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.

“In the 12 months since I’ve taken over we’ve had 10 go up to Ryan’s first team so from a development point of view it’s brilliant,” added Page.

“From a selfish point of view, you want to keep as many players as you can to give you a better chance of winning games of football.

“But I’m absolutely delighted with what this group of lads have done and the progress they’ve made.

“Hopefully they’ll continue to improve and see that pathway that is there for them to get through to the first team.”