Lewis Koumas has enjoyed a fine start to the season for both club and country and will be eyeing a start for Wales on Sunday night. The 21-year-old has won over Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola and Wales manager Craig Bellamy in recent months, with his hard-working enthusiasm described as 'contagious' after impressing in the Carabao Cup win over Tottenham Hotspur last month.
Bellamy's faith in Koumas
It was back in June when Wales boss Craig Bellamy nailed his colours to the mast over Koumas, who at the time had won most of his international caps coming off the bench to play in wide positions, mirroring what he was doing at club level in loans at Stoke, Birmingham and Hull. But after heading a last-gasp equaliser from a Neco Williams cross in a Cardiff friendly against Ghana - a match staged to prepare the visitors for facing England at the World Cup - Bellamy knew Koumas had more than staked his claim over his role in the side.
"[He is a] nine because we don't really have any nines coming through and we do have a lot of wingers, brilliant wingers," said the Wales boss and ex-Liverpool forward back then.
Taking his chance at Liverpool
Koumas is around a lot of wingers at Liverpool too, with Bradley Barcola, Cody Gakpo, Rio Ngumoha and Victor Munoz that bit more 'brilliant' than those in the Wales squad. And so with Hugo Ekitike injured, Federico Chiesa not trusted and Alexander Isak the only senior No.9 available to Iraola, Koumas has taken his chance in his favoured role at club level as well as internationally.
Indeed, despite impressing in the summer you would have got decent odds on the Welshman making five appearances for the Reds this season by the first international break, including making Premier League and Champions League debuts. But Koumas has become Iraola's Energizer Bunny, with the Reds boss calling his hard-working enthusiasm 'contagious' after he impressed the Anfield crowd in the Carabao Cup win over Tottenham Hotspur last month, before coming on to help close out the 1-0 win at Bournemouth.
International breakthrough
He has started two of Wales' three matches in the current international break too, leading the line with aplomb in Thursday night's impressive 2-1 win over Norway in Cardiff having come close to grabbing a late equaliser in last week's 1-0 defeat in Portugal, where only a superb Ruben Dias block on the line denied him. And adding those goals is the next step in making Koumas more of an all-round centre-forward. He has 11 in 103 senior club matches and one in 15 caps for Wales.
But most of those games will have come on the wing, and clearly Iraola has seen enough in him as a forward to usurp Chiesa in the pecking order and negate the desire to sign a senior striker in the summer. "They kept him on at Anfield. You don't get the choice to stay," said Bellamy after the Portugal game. "If they want to keep you, they keep you. It's a difference."
With injury concerns surrounding Isak and Gakpo going into next Sunday's clash with Manchester City, Koumas might well be eyeing even more unexpected involvement with the Reds in what will be the biggest game of the season so far for 114 obvious reasons. But first comes Wales' clash with Denmark on Sunday night to round off their mammoth international break, when another start in attack would represent a significant milestone in Koumas' career, suggesting that he has elbowed out long-time first-choice No.9 Kieffer Moore and Everton's Brennan Johnson to become Bellamy's main man.
The way that Koumas dovetailed with wingers Sorba Thomas and Dan James against Norway, when he was involved in the former teeing up the latter for Wales' equaliser, suggests he deserves another start in front of home fans. As the hosts came from a goal down against Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard et al, the Wales supporters responded to Koumas' relentless energy in much the same way as the Liverpool crowd did against Tottenham. Koumas has endeared himself to fans and managers alike these last few months, and his career is blossoming for club and country.
