Wes Burns says the path back to Wales felt a lot shorter because Craig Bellamy kept checking in. Burns said Bellamy was calling every month, or even once every two weeks, while he recovered from a long knee injury, and that he made a point of pulling him aside to thank him for the support.
"The world of football forgets you very, very fast when you're not playing," Burns said.
Bellamy's support during recovery
Burns' point is simple enough. The calls from Bellamy helped him feel he was still in touching distance of a return, not cut off from it. He said that Bellamy's own experience of a similar injury when he was younger meant the contact carried extra weight.
"Rather than feeling a million miles away, it always made me feel I was in touching distance of getting back in," Burns said. That is the heart of the story, because the recovery was long, not abstract. Burns was out for almost a year after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament during Ipswich's defeat at Liverpool in January 2025, and he returned 11 months later.
Leicester and the Wales comeback
Burns also chose a longer contract at Leicester City rather than another year at Ipswich. Leicester are 13th in League One with two wins from their opening seven games, so this is not a clean, easy reset. It is a move that asks for patience, and Burns has framed it as a longer-term call about his career rather than a short-term escape.
His Wales return is back on the agenda too. Burns hopes to be involved against Denmark in Copenhagen on Sunday, 27 October, after Wales opened the Nations League campaign with a 1-0 defeat in Portugal. He pointed to the 2022 away game against the Netherlands as proof he can still handle top-level opposition, naming Frenkie de Jong as the best player he has ever faced.
Burns is back in the conversation after 11 months out, a longer contract at Leicester, and Bellamy's regular calls. The immediate target is Denmark in Copenhagen on Sunday, 27 October.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
