Aaron Ramsey insists his immediate goal is to keep Cardiff City in the Championship - but his long-term ambition is to play at next summer’s World Cup.
The injured Wales captain will once again be on the touchline for the Bluebirds on Saturday, when their bid to avoid relegation reaches a likely point of no return.
If Cardiff lose at home to West Bromwich Albion, they are almost certainly down, but a draw or a victory will take their chances of survival to the final day of the season.
That third game - away at Norwich City - will be Ramsey’s final game of the rescue trilogy he agreed to inherit after the 11th hour sacking of former manager Omer Riza.
But Ramsey says the prospect of staying on as manager - whether Cardiff are in the Championship or League One - is something for the future.
Come next weekend, he intends to resume his rehabilitation as a player who has recently had surgery on a long-standing hamstring injury, with the goal of playing for Wales at next year’s World Cup finals in North America.
“My way of looking at it is just these two games and trying to keep this club in the Championship,” said Ramsey.
“It means a lot to me to be given this opportunity and I couldn't turn that down. My full focus is trying to keep Cardiff in the Championship and it will be back to rehab then, with the hamstring.
“I'm trying to get back from a hamstring injury. I will be straight into rehab after this season finishes, that's for sure.
“For me it is just about focusing on the next two games and then in the summer really focusing on getting a good rehab and giving myself the opportunity to get back into a good place.
“I had the operation hoping that would give me the best chance to get my hamstring working properly.
“In a few weeks’ time, I will be back doing rehab and if all that goes well there is still unfinished business.
“There is a lot still to play for and that World Cup is a massive carrot being dangled. That’s what I will be focusing on in a few weeks time.”
Ramsey’s mind may be clear that he wants to remain as a player, but there are still unanswered questions for the club concerning their biggest star’s future.
Ramsey will be 35 in December and his current contract expires at the end of the season.
Whether they will offer him a new deal as a player - or one that involves a role as player-coach - remains to be seen.
For the time being, though, the former Arsenal and Juventus midfielder is clear his only focus for the next nine days is to preserve the current status of the club he joined as a boy.
“I was at this club from eight years old, so they gave me the opportunity that I will forever be grateful for.
“To do what I've done in my career, it all started here so it means everything to me.
“For me now to take this on and to play my part, hopefully, in being able to celebrate something at the end of the season, and avoid relegation, would be something special.”
Cardiff are very likely to need to win both their remaining matches in order to stay up and even then that may not be enough to save them if other results went against them.
It’s an exceptionally tall order for a team that has managed only nine victories in 44 league matches so far.
But Ramsey has been buoyed by the performance his players delivered in their last game on Easter Monday - even though they could only come away with a point after Oxford United equalised to claim a 1-1 draw.
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Ramsey added: “These players have won plenty of games in their careers so they know how to do that.
“It is about giving them the belief to go out and do that and the right structure for them to be able to do that. The confidence and energy seems high in training. Hopefully, they can transmit that into the game.
“I showed them back how well they did at the weekend. There were some really positive clips and feedback from that game. That was just after one training session.
“They are very capable of producing performances and winning games. It is just about giving them that belief going into the last two games.
“It has been messages about principles and how I see the game. These things are important for us to stick by.
“They are different to what they’ve heard before this season because every manager has his own philosophy. They are slightly different.”
