Connor Roberts has spoken of the emotional and mental toll of his injury-enforced absence from football, saying that returning to the pitch has given him a fresh sense of gratitude for everything he has achieved in the game.

The Wales and Burnley right-back missed the entire 2025-26 season with an Achilles injury, finally returning as a substitute in Wales' 2-1 defeat to Romania in Bucharest — 362 days after his last appearance for club or country, a match against Belgium in June 2025.

A year of watching and waiting

Roberts, 30, described the prolonged spell on the sidelines as his first serious long-term injury, and admitted the circumstances made it all the more difficult to bear. While he was absent, Burnley were relegated from the Premier League and Wales failed to qualify for the World Cup.