TOM King says his call-up to the Wales squad proves that he made the right decision to join Newport County AFC in the summer and he hopes continued success with the Exiles will help him earn a place at Euro 2020.
The former Millwall goalkeeper had a number of other offers on the table at the end of last season but he chose to move to Rodney Parade in June and he hasn’t looked back since.
King kept eight clean sheets in his first 12 appearances for County to catch the eye of Wales boss Ryan Giggs and earn a place in the squad for last week’s final qualifiers against Azerbaijan and Hungary.
“I had other offers, but I wanted to play games. That was my main priority,” said the Plymouth-born stopper, who qualifies for Wales through his Cardiff-born mum.
"I also wanted to work with the manager here. I heard a lot of good things about him and the goalkeeping coach here as well.
“I’d say I made the right decision. It’s all come together exactly how I would have liked it; the team’s performing well, we’re doing well in the league, we’re through to the second round of the FA Cup and the Leasing.com Trophy.
“It’s been a whirlwind start and we just want to push on now.”
And King knows he has to perform for his club to stay on Giggs’ radar.
“Hopefully I can be a part of it next summer,” said the 24-year-old ahead of this afternoon’s home clash with Oldham Athletic.
“The next camp is in March and that won’t be in my mind until then.
“I’ve got a lot of work to do here. I left on what I consider to be a poor mistake at Grimsby when I should have saved the goal and I’ll be looking to put that right.
“We need to improve our form in the league as well. Two losses in a row [at Colchester United and at home to Salford City] is not good enough.
“That’s not the standard we set ourselves and, for me personally, there's no better time to put that right than against a former manager of mine.”
King played under Oldham boss Dino Maamria, a former County assistant manager. when he was on loan at Stevenage during the 2017-2018 season.
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