West Ham United defender James Collins has made it vehemently clear that he in no way turned down the opportunity to play for Wales on Tuesday night.
Reports suggested that the 30-year old centre-back rejected manager Chris Coleman's call-up for the World Cup qualifier with Serbia as he was without Ashley Williams and Sam Ricketts.
But Collins has refuted those claims, saying he would jump at the chance to play for the Dragons if he was asked to.
"Following reports in the media today I feel obliged to set the record straight as it has been wrongly suggested that I refused to play for my country against Serbia on the 10th Sept 2013," read a statement released by Collins.
"I would like to clarify that I was not contacted by Chris Coleman or anyone at the FAW (Football Association of Wales) to request that I join up with the squad for the Serbia game.
"Had I been asked I would have gladly joined up with my team-mates and represented my country.
"I did have a conversation with Chris to try to seek clarification on why I had been left out of the initial squad for both the Macedonia and the Serbia matches.
"But at no stage did I state that I would refuse to play for Wales.
"I am proud to come from Wales and even prouder to pull on the red shirt of my country so the suggestion that I would ever refuse to play for them is plainly wrong."
