Rabbi Matondo describes missing out on a place in the Wales squad for the European Championship last summer as “heartbreaking”. The winger was overlooked after an underwhelming season and being sent home from a camp by the caretaker manager, Rob Page, for “breaching protocols” a year ago.
It was the end of a tough season for Matondo that started with an 8-0 defeat by Bayern Munich – one of only three Schalke appearances – and ended with a loan at Stoke. “When you are growing up playing football you always dream about the big tournaments, like the Euros and World Cup,” he says. “Being around the Wales team for the last two seasons consistently and then missing out on the most important camp was heartbreaking.
“Did I do enough throughout the season to get a chance? Probably not, but it hurt at the time. When you’ve gone to previous camps and been there with the guys when we qualified for the Euros, missing out on the final step was a hard one to swallow. That gave me motivation and willpower to make sure something like that doesn’t happen again. This season I am pushing myself.”
After an uncertain summer of injury and searching for a club, Matondo is firing with Cercle Brugge in the Belgian top flight, and is back in the Wales squad for their World Cup play-off at home to Austria on Thursday.
Matondo has channelled his hurt to score nine goals in 24 games to help a club accustomed to relegation battles to mid-table safety and a fight for a place in Europe. The absence of Tyler Roberts and Kieffer Moore from the Wales squad means there is more pressure on Matondo, but he is thriving a year after his last Wales call-up was curtailed and left him with bridges to build.
“I can’t blame Rob Page for his decision; he made it on what he felt was right for the nation and what he wanted to do. He said what he needed to say, I said what I needed to say and at the end of the day he is the manager, he decides the team, he decides the squad and we move on. As much as I was upset, the team comes first. If the manager felt it was the right move for the squad, I guess it was. There wasn’t much I could say – whatever I said wouldn’t change his mind.”
Matondo’s form in Belgium has been hard for Page to ignore. Cercle Brugge beat stiff competition from others in Europe to bring in the former Manchester City winger on loan from Schalke. The club have the youngest average age of any squad in Europe’s top eight leagues as they look to create a springboard for players, led by a sporting director, Carlos Aviña, who has overseen an overhaul at a club that shares an owner, the Russian Dmitry Rybolovlev, with Monaco. Club Brugge and Anderlecht are among the teams they have beaten this season.
“I was amazed by the faith showed in me by Cercle because other teams were maybe looking at me and thinking: ‘Ermmm … he’s injured and hasn’t had the best of seasons before that, so it might be a risk getting him.’ But the sporting director here was perfect with me. In getting me, he was a big factor, pushing me every step of the way to try to make this happen. In the end, it was the right move.
“Missing the Euros and being injured killed me a bit. That’s why I felt it was really important when Cercle approached, showing that faith to give me that motivation to go into the next season, that when I get my opportunity, I stay fit, I stay out of trouble, I’ll be firing for sure.”
The confidence is returning to a player who cost Schalke around £11m as an 18-year-old in 2019. Things started promisingly in the Bundesliga for Matondo, who scored in a debut win against RB Leipzig, but a change of head coach and injuries stalled his progression in Germany and he was allowed to join Stoke in January 2021. Matondo admits he “was not at the races” in his early Championship games as he recovered from injury but he ended his time in England in good form, and took that to Belgium after getting fit.
“I have started 19, 20 games in the league. At the start I wasn’t contributing with goals and assists but I was putting in some decent performances and they stuck with me and pushed me to play. Ultimately, when that first goal came the confidence started growing on the pitch. I have always believed in myself, given the opportunity, and when my confidence is there and I am playing regularly I can do my thing.”
Settling off the pitch has happened quickly, too, for Matondo, who is close friends at Cercle with the former Hull City midfielder Leonardo Lopes. “If I’ve got a day off and we’ve won or I’ve scored, I feel I can treat myself to a little Belgian waffle – they’re top notch.”
Wales fans will be hoping there is a need for a waffle in Cardiff on Friday morning.
