The new season promises to be one of both little steps and giant steps for David Brooks. The 29-year-old midfielder will come up against childhood hero Cristiano Ronaldo with Wales in the Nations League before making his European debut with Bournemouth in the Europa League. At the same time, and more importantly, Brooks and wife Flora are getting ready for their daughter Lottie's first steps.
"She's crawling now and standing up. I'm getting my steps in when I get home," Brooks said to Feast of Football. "Things have changed from the first couple of months after she was born where you're frightened to do anything.
"I'm enjoying it a lot now, she's got a personality so when you go home there's obviously a lot of enjoyment to be had." Bellamy link puts Wales in hard position - Blake Johnson tipped to thrive under Moyes at Everton Five years ago, he was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin lymphoma. He then endured chemotherapy, lost more than a stone in weight and found himself so weakened by the treatment that he struggled to get out of bed. Seven months later, in May 2022, Brooks declared himself cancer-free before he made his long-awaited return to action in March 2023.
"It feels like a different lifetime ago," Brooks recalls. "Over the past couple of years, I've kind of got back to a place prior to that. So I feel good, and sometimes I forget that it even happened." Brooks made his Wales debut in 2017 and could well win his 50th cap by the end of the year as Wales play home and away games against Portugal, Denmark and Norway in Nations League A.
Craig Bellamy's side start their campaign against Portugal in Lisbon on 24 September, and it is a chance for the boyhood Manchester United fan to play against one of his idols - Ronaldo. "I had one or two of his tops," Brooks said. "Being on that stage with potentially one of the best players of probably our lifetime - it's just crazy.
"It's a massive accomplishment for me personally to make it back to that point. "Going to play against the best teams in Europe is obviously a massive bonus for Wales, and we want to showcase our talents and prove to the world that we're not just there to make up the numbers, that we can compete." Wales are still getting over the bitter disappointment of failing to qualify for the summer's World Cup, while head coach Craig Bellamy came close to moving to Burnley. And while some former players believe Bellamy has "burnt some bridges", Brooks says they are "getting back to work," with Euro 2028 their next target.
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