Kieffer Moore aims to guide Wales to Euro 2020 after retirement scare

Kieffer Moore plans to fire Wales to the 2020 European Championship just nine months after a fractured skull left him fearing for his future.

Moore suffered the horror injury playing for former club Barnsley at Gillingham in February.

The 6ft 5ins striker was unconscious on the pitch for eight minutes after challenging for a header.

Moore was rushed to hospital and in the following days the 27-year-old was forced to contemplate retirement and a future career as a personal trainer.

"It was a horrendous injury," Moore recalled ahead of Wales' vital Euro 2020 qualifier in Azerbaijan on Saturday.

"At the time I didn't remember much. But as the weeks went on I started remembering it all again.

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"The defender headed the side of my head, I fractured my temporal bone and had a really nasty concussion.

"I wasn't in a good way. My agent was there and he was ringing my mum and girlfriend - and they weren't best pleased.

"I had blood streaming out of my ears. It was quite graphic.

"I didn't have an operation, but I had a CT scan and multiple other scans and they determined the outcome."

Moore spent two months out before playing a few games at the end of the season and then joined Wigan in a reported £3m deal.

Torquay-born Moore - who qualifies for Wales through his maternal grandfather - made his international debut in a September friendly against Belarus and scored on his first competitive outing in Slovakia, a 1-1 draw in Euro 2020 qualifying.

Just three games into his international career - he also started the 1-1 home draw with Croatia last month - Moore has acquired cult-hero status among Wales fans.

"I believe that moment [fracturing his skull] has put a lot of things into perspective for me," Moore said.

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"How l live my life and what I want from my career as a footballer.

"There were talks about retiring, but I made a very good recovery and now I'm here.

"I still have to go up for headers, and if I believed I couldn't do that anymore I would walk out of the game.

"If the ball is there to be won then I'm going to try and win it, and give everything for the cause like I've done the whole of my career."

No international break for Super 6

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