CHRIS Coleman has told striker Ched Evans there are a lot of players in front of him in the queue to play for Wales.

Evans won 13 caps and was a rising star with Sheffield United before being convicted of rape in 2012 and serving two and half years in prison.

He always maintained his innocence and that conviction was eventually quashed before he was acquitted in a retrial at Cardiff Crown Court last month.

Evans has resumed his career at League One club Chesterfield, and the 27-year-old has scored four times in 12 appearances for the Spireites.

But Coleman says he has a long way to go before he will be in the reckoning for a recall to the national side.

"From the football side of it, he has missed a lot of football,” said the national manager.

"I don't know Ched personally – I've never met the boy. He was playing at a certain level before this situation occurred, and now he is playing at a different level.

"He has missed a lot of football, and since he has been away a lot has happened to this team. There are a lot of players in front of him.

"From a football perspective, a lot needs to happen.

"I look at it now from a football perspective, and the boys I am looking at compete at a level we need them to compete at to continue where we have been in the last two or three years.

"If anyone is going to make an impact on that, they need to be at least playing at the highest level and doing the business at the highest level."