Ethan Ampadu will hope a change of scene gives him a change of fortunes when he links up with Wales this week.
The Chelsea midfielder is only 22, but he has already suffered enough end-of-season heartbreak to last an entire career.
For the third successive season, Ampadu was left with a sinking feeling as the club he had spent the season on loan with were relegated from the top flight.
The former Exeter City youngster could not prevent his current team, Spezia, from dropping out of Serie A, even though he scored in a 3-1 defeat to Hellas Verona.
Last season, while on loan at Venezia, he experienced relegation from Serie A, and in the 2020-21 season, he was with Sheffield United when they finished bottom of the Premier League.
With one year remaining on his contract, Ampadu is set to return to Chelsea this summer, where he will hope to finally make the long-anticipated breakthrough into the first team.
Before then, he will this week join the Wales squad in preparation for their Euro 2020 qualifying matches at home to Armenia on Friday and then away in Turkey on Monday, June 19.
You have to dig deep to find Welsh connections to Manchester City’s treble triumph, which was secured with their 1-0 victory over Inter Milan at weekend in the Champions League final in Istanbul.
Tommy Doyle was not on the field for Pep Guardiola’s team, or among the substitutes, but he is considered one of the club’s brightest young prospects.
That’s not as fact that will interest Wales manager Rob Page, as Doyle is most certainly English, but it might jog the memory of Cardiff City fans.
They saw Doyle turn out 19 times for the Bluebirds in the 2021-22 season, where he spent an impressive season on loan, before returning to City and then a more recent loan spell at Sheffield United.
Glamorgan batsman Kiran Carlson proved at the weekend he is a man for all formats of cricket.
The Welsh county’s captain hit a superb 162 against Durham on the opening day of the County Championship Division Two match at Chester-le-Street.
His red ball form followed on from his white ball exploits in the Vitality Blast T20 tournament, where Carlson has been a consistent scorer.
Last Friday, he hit 40 against Essex in the T20 format. On Saturday, he made the 300-mile road trip to the North-East ground at the Riverside Stadium and made his fourth century of the season which made him the leading run-scorer in Division Two this season.
Carlson said: “I’m definitely happy with the way I’m batting. I’m in some good rhythm in the four-day stuff so happy to get that score on the board.
“I’m not sure if the aggressive approach was a conscious thing or a bit of T20 coming in, but I had my game-plan, defend straight and score square (of the wicket).
While Carlson was laying a platform for Glamorgan, his Glamorgan clubmate, Marnus Labuschagne, warmed up for the Ashes series by helping Australia win the World Test Championship with a victory over India in the final at Lord’s.
Labuschagne – who spent the early weeks of the season playing for Glamorgan – hit 25 in Australia’s first innings and then 41 in the second as the Aussies won by 209 runs, thanks mainly to a 163 first innings knock by Travis Head.
Abbie Fleming will carry Welsh hopes of a winning finish to the women’s rugby season after her team, Exeter Chiefs, claimed a memorable victory at the weekend.
Wales second row Fleming was in the Chiefs back row unit – playing at blindside flanker – as they overcame Saracens, 24-21, in the semi-final of the Allianz Premier 15s.
Experienced Wales back Robyn Wilkins was also included among the Chief’s replacements.
It was revenge for Exeter – against a Sarries team that included Fleming’s Wales teammate Georgia Evans – making up for their defeat to the London club in last year’s final.
The Chiefs left it late to pip champions Saracens thanks to a 79th minute try from Olivia Mcgoverne.
That came soon after Saracens had lost their Welsh international back row forward Evans to a technical yellow card that left them one short for the closing stages.
There will be more Welsh interest in the final, too, which will be against Gloucester-Hartpury on June 24.
The Cherries have flanker Beth Lewis and Six Nations player of the championship nominee Sisilia Tuipulotu, as well as Kelsey Jones, Lleucu George and Lisa Neumann in their ranks.
Jones was among the try scorers as Gloucester-Hartpury won the west country derby against Bristol Bears to reach their first Allianz Premier 15s final with a 21-12 triumph at Kingsholm.
Elsewhere, Wales’ double Olympic champion Jade Jones was back in form when she won gold at the Rome leg of the World Taekwondo Grand Prix at the weekend.
Jones beat Iranian world champion Nahid Kiyanichandeh in the women’s -57kg final.
