Wales Under-21 team produces players despite poor results – Dave Adams

The emergence of Lawlor, Cardiff City’s centre-back, is a prime example of what Adams describes.

Having only turned 20 on 1 January, he has already made more appearances for the Wales national team than their under-21 side, making the first of his three caps in September.

“It will have a huge impact on the performance of your Under-21 team when you have five to seven players selected in each. [senior] “An international window could be in the Under-21s,” Adams added.

“Full credit to Craig for putting so much faith in the young players and giving Wales the opportunity to continue to build a successful team for the future.

“The indirect effect of course is that you will be less competitive at under-21 level, but the reality is that our strategic aim is to consistently qualify for tournaments for our men’s and women’s senior teams.

“So there are no specific KPIs around what our U21 performance looks like. The most important measure of the success of our U21 coach is graduating players through this system which we have obviously done relatively successfully in the last few years.”

As well as Lawlor, Cardiff team-mate Kabakio, fellow Bluebirds Joel Colwell and Coventry City midfielder Kai Andrews all make their debuts for the Wales senior team in 2025 and are all still eligible to play for the Under-21s.

This has reduced the number of players available to coach Jones, but Adams added: “That is no excuse for some performances.

“I think that the Belgium match, after losing by so many goals, there will be a review of the tactical plan, and how to prepare the team to be able to compete.

“Some of these under-21 teams are closer to the market value of men’s first-team transfers, so there also has to be a realization that of course we want to be competitive in every game – and we never give up, that’s our mentality as Welsh people – but there’s also a realization that you’re playing against some of the best talent in European football.

“Their players have played 100s of games, some of them in Champions League matches, while a lot of our boys are not playing in the league or playing under-21 football, which we all know is not a good measure of a successful transition into international football.”