Dragon Dummett Out To Make The Cut

By Tom Easterby - Newcastle United Club Reporter

Defender Paul Dummett says being named in Wales' preliminary squad for this summer's European Championships is a "massive honour".

The 24-year-old, who has two caps for his country to date, was this week included in Chris Coleman's 29-man squad for a pre-tournament training camp in Portugal, which gets underway on Monday, 23rd May.

Dummett is included alongside the likes of Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey and Liverpool's Joe Allen, while Real Madrid's Gareth Bale is absent due to his club's Champions League final clash with Atletico Madrid later that week.

And the Magpies man - who is eligible to play for Wales through his grandfather - has set his sights on making sure he's in the frame when Coleman names his final 23 players for the tournament in France at the end of this month.

"It's a massive honour. It was touch and go whether I thought I'd get in the squad, because I've had a few injuries this season, but I'm pleased to have been named in the preliminary squad," Dummett told nufc.co.uk. "Hopefully when it gets cut down, I'll make the cut as well.

"During the qualifiers I didn't feature much and I've had those injuries so I haven't been involved as much as I would like, but when they qualified it was always going to be an aim to be involved.

"My main priority this season has obviously been Newcastle, but at the back of your mind you're always thinking about the Euros, and I'm happy that I've been been picked for the training camp.

"I always thought that if I was fit and playing, I was in with a chance of being selected. I was always quite positive and had belief in myself to be picked, and that's what's happened - I've been fit for the last five or six weeks now, and the manager's put me in the squad."

The final squad for the tournament is set to be announced on 31st May after the training camp in Portugal, with a friendly against Sweden in Stockholm to follow on Saturday, 5th June.

And Dummett knows that he has been given a big opportunity to make sure of his seat on the plane to France - and it's one he fully intends to grasp.

"Unfortunately we don't have any games over there (in Portugal), but I think the manager, from what he sees in games from players at their clubs, will know roughly everything about players," he said.

"But being in that camp gives you that extra chance to try and impress even more. If he's got a doubt about you, then you've got that extra chance to impress.

"I'm very excited. Everyone's been talking about it, and for me, to be involved in a tournament like that would be massive. A lot of players will go through their career and never ever experience that, so that's my aim - to be as fit as possible and to impress the manager as much as possible to make sure that I make the final 23-man squad.

"I could be one of the only players in the Newcastle squad to actually go to the Euros, so that would be a massive honour for me and a confidence booster to go to that and experience the European Championships."