Wales' Morrell eyes restart with club and country

Ipswich-born Joe Morrell, who qualifies for Wales because his mother is from Merthyr, faced the country of his birth at the 2022 World Cup

Joe Morrell went from playing at the World Cup to having nobody to play for inside 18 months.

But at 27, the Wales midfielder believes he is only about halfway through his playing days and is determined to restart his career for both and club country.

Morrell is without a club having been allowed to leave Portsmouth at the end of last season despite playing his part – and even captaining the side at times – as they won the League One title.

A knee injury ended his final Pompey season last January and, after unexpected complications, is now closing in on a return to full fitness.

The next step, Morrell says, is to decide where he goes next.

“There are clubs who have called up and said ‘we need him for the weekend’ and my agent has said ‘he is still a way from that’. I need a block of training and maybe a few reserve games,” Morrell told this week’s Feast of Football podcast.

“I have spoken to clubs here, some abroad. There are some clubs I have spoken to who start pre-season in January, a few clubs in Asia or the MLS potentially, which from a physical perspective would be good.

“I still feel like I have got unfinished business here [in English football], but if something like that came up and was really interesting, I would definitely be open to it.”

For the moment, Morrell is doing his rehabilitation work at Portsmouth.

He is “really grateful” for the club’s support despite their decision not to renew his contract after three happy years at Fratton Park, where he played 105 games.

Joe Morrell played 32 games in 2023-24 before injury brought an end to his season in late January

Morrell began his career at Bristol City, playing a handful of senior games after coming through the youth ranks, and had successful loan spells at Cheltenham Town and Lincoln City before making a permanent move to Luton Town in 2020.

He left Kenilworth Road after one season – and only 11 appearances – to join Portsmouth, the first club where he “found a home in football”.

“In an ideal world, I’d have loved nothing more than to stay at Pompey and hopefully help them in the Championship,” Morrell added.

“But I also appreciate they have got difficult decisions to make and they have a budget which is not a massive budget for a Championship club.

“I felt I could have contributed this year, but they brought in 15 players and to be able to do that, it was a case of me not being there. I understand that.”

Morrell, who has also done some of his recovery week with the Football Association of Wales’ medical staff, thinks he is about a month away from being able to take part in full training.

He hopes, therefore, that he will soon be signing for a new club - though it is unclear for now where that might be.

Wrexham were touted as admirers over the summer, and Morrell would “definitely be interested” should Phil Parkinson come calling.

“In the Football League, there’s not many more exciting projects than Wrexham,” he added.

“To be fair I don’t think they need much help at the moment.”

If the immediate goal is to sort out his club future, Morrell also has an eye on Wales.

There may be more celebrated names in the national squad, but Morrell has amassed 37 caps since making his debut under Ryan Giggs in 2019.

He started all four games at Euro 2020, and featured twice as a substitute at the World Cup in Qatar.

“Nothing has ever topped playing for Wales for me,” Morrell said.

“Some of the experiences I have had are things I would never have envisaged and hopefully there’s plenty more of that to come.”

Morrell has “heard really good things” about the impact of Craig Bellamy.

“There are a lot of things that look really exciting for the future,” he added.

“Hopefully I can put myself in a position to get picked for a squad. That would be really good.”