WALES star Aaron Ramsey is delighted to be at Euro 2016 because it means he’s no longer the odd one out at Premier League giants Arsenal.

Ramsey, who joined the Gunners from Cardiff City in 2008, has had to watch as club mates from England, France, Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic have shone on the world and European stage.

But with Wales finally ending their 58-year wait to play at a major tournament this summer the 25-year-old is relishing coming up against Arsenal teammate Jack Wilshere and England next week.

And he could face the likes of France’s Oliver Giroud and Laurent Koscielny, Spain’s Hector Bellerin, Czech ace Petr Cech and German star Mesut Ozil if Wales progress beyond the group stage.

Ahead of Saturday’s Group B opener against Slovakia in Bordeaux, and Ramsey said: “I’m excited – normally I'm on holiday now.

“When the campaign started and we got those couple of wins early on I kept winding the Arsenal boys up saying 'I'll see you in France'.

“The way things were developing it was looking promising. To finally achieve it was great. To go in knowing I would actually be playing in the finals...I can share that experience now with some of the players who've done it. I can't wait.”

Ramsey says his Arsenal teammates are pleased for him and revealed that his club manager Arsene Wenger is predicting Welsh success in his homeland.

“The other players were pleased,” he said. “And the manager was as well. He said we could be pretty dangerous over there so hopefully that proves to be right. He's a wise man.

“All the [Wales] players are really excited to show what they are capable of,” he added. “You can feel the excitement in this group. We can't wait to get started and play tournament football.

"Our target is to get out of the group first and I think a win will probably get you through, maybe in third place.

“We are determined to not get rolled over. We want to make an impression ourselves and show people what we are capable of – rise to the occasion."

Ramsey accepts that there will be a lot of pressure on him and Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale to perform in France but he insists they will succeed or fail as a squad.

"I take that kind of responsibility and Gareth will as well,” he said. “It's the whole team though, we work our socks off for each other.

"We definitely have the determination to fight for each other.

“That's probably why in the campaign we didn't concede a lot of goals from open play. We are quite tough to break down and we can hurt teams as well."

South Wales Argus: