SUNDERLAND defender Niall Huggins has won his first Wales senior call-up for Euro 2024 qualifiers against Armenia and Turkey.

York-born Huggins qualifies for Wales through his Bangor-born father and has won four caps at Under-21 level.

The 22-year-old former Leeds full-back has been rewarded after some excellent performances for Sunderland which included his first senior goal, a stunning solo effort against Watford at the Stadium of Light.

Huggins suffered two years of injury hell after joining Sunderland in the summer of 2021, with a succession of niggling issues restricting him to just a handful of senior appearances prior to the start of the current campaign.

But he looks to have finally put those issues behind him and has established himself in Tony Mowbray's side this season.

Earlier this season, Mowbray said: "I genuinely felt he struggled with the mental side of it with injury after injury. I think he's broken through that now, he's pretty robust and he's ready to go.

 “Not once have I seen him say, ‘I need to miss (training) today, this is a bit sore or that’s a bit tight, can I have a day off, gaffer? I'm feeling this or that, but I should be alright in a couple of days’.

“There's been none of that. He just puts his boots on every day and goes out and trains, which is a really good sign for us.”

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Brennan Johnson returns to the Wales squad after injury for two games that will determine whether Wales qualify automatically for next summer’s European Championship in Germany.

Tottenham forward Johnson missed last month’s 2-1 victory over World Cup semi-finalists Croatia with a hamstring injury.

Johnson’s Spurs team-mate Ben Davies is named in Rob Page’s 23-strong squad, despite missing his club’s 4-1 Premier League defeat to Chelsea on Monday with an ankle problem.

Portsmouth midfielder Joe Morrell is also included after serving a two-game suspension.

Morrell, who was sent off in the 2-0 away defeat to Turkey in June, replaces Hibernian’s Dylan Levitt.

Regan Poole and Wes Burns were both involved in last month’s friendly against Gibraltar but miss out this time after picking up respective knee and shoulder injuries.

Charlie Savage, Josh Low, Luke Harris and Owen Beck are also absent and set to return to the under-21 set-up for their Euro qualifiers against Iceland and Denmark this month.

Tom King is third-choice goalkeeper, with Adam Davies yet to recover from the injury which forced his departure from the Wales camp before the Gibraltar game.

Skipper Aaron Ramsey is unavailable because of a knee injury that has sidelined him for the last two months.

Wales meet Armenia in Yerevan on November 18 before welcoming Turkey to Cardiff three days later – and two wins would see them qualify for a third successive European Championships.

Group leaders Turkey have already booked their spot at Euro 2024 with Wales, Armenia and Croatia contesting the second automatic place.

If they fail to make the top two, Wales are guaranteed a play-off place in March through their top-tier status in the last edition of the Nations League.

Full squad: W Hennessey (Nottingham Forest), D Ward (Leicester), T King (Wolves), B Davies (Tottenham), J Rodon (Leeds, on loan from Tottenham), T Lockyer (Luton), C Mepham (Bournemouth), B Cabango (Swansea), N Williams (Nottingham Forest), C Roberts (Burnley), N Huggins (Sunderland), E Ampadu (Leeds), J Sheehan (Bolton), J James (Birmingham), J Morrell (Portsmouth), H Wilson (Fulham), D Brooks (Bournemouth), D James (Leeds), N Broadhead (Ipswich), L Cullen (Swansea), B Johnson (Tottenham), K Moore (Bournemouth), T Bradshaw (Millwall).