Neil Taylor: Former defender named Wales Under-21 assistant boss
- Published
Neil Taylor won promotion to the Premier League with Swansea in 2011, making 179 appearances as he established himself as a top-flight player
Former Wales defender Neil Taylor has been added to Wales Under-21s backroom staff as assistant to boss Matty Jones.
Taylor played 43 times for Wales and featured in their surprising run to the semi-final stage of Euro 2016.
The ex-Aston Villa defender is working towards his Uefa pro licence with the Football Association of Wales (FAW).
"I'm delighted to have been given the chance to join the coaching team with this highly talented under-21s group," said Taylor.
"Having walked the path that the players are currently on during my playing days, I feel I can have a positive impact on their careers.
"I appreciate the opportunity that Matty has given me and now I can't wait to start working with the players and building towards the next qualifying campaign."
The 34-year-old former Wrexham and Swansea defender has been coaching Aston Villa's under-16s since his retirement in November 2022 and will be joined in Jones' backroom staff by former Wales goalkeeper Boaz Myhill.
The FAW's head of player development Richard Williams will also join Taylor and Myhill in making up Jones' coaching staff.
"I'm really pleased that Neil has agreed to commit and invest his time to his country yet again by coming onboard as our assistant coach for the upcoming campaign," Jones added.
"We're very privileged to have his experience and level of quality supporting what we do to deliver the best to our players."
Wales discovered their opponents for their upcoming Uefa Euro Under-21 qualifying campaign in February and kick off their campaign with a trip to Denmark in June.
Wales were also drawn alongside Czech Republic, Iceland and Lithuania in Group I as Jones takes charge of his first qualifying campaign.
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