FAI in race to recruit McClean for Euros
The Republic of Ireland are involved in a race to have Sunderland midfielder James McClean available for the European Championships, but officials in Dublin are afraid that Northern Ireland may yet get in the way of the plan.
McClean signed elibility papers last week having received indications that he would be picked for the friendly squad against the Czech Republic on February 29, but the co-operation of the Irish Football Association in Belfast will be needed for that to happen and that could prove a problem given the level of anger in Northern Ireland football circles about the continued defections to the Republic.
It is believed to have taken about 10 months for Fifa to process the papers concerning the transfer of the former West Ham United player, Daniel Kearns, from the North to the Republic, with the process drawn out because the IFA didn’t immediately sign their side of the form which is needed for the transfer to take place.
The papers concerning another player, Derry-born Eunan O’Kane of Torquay United, are also taking a long time to go through.
Fifa confirmed last week that they have yet to receive the application concerning McClean, so the process could yet take months. That might explain why Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni, who was at Stamford Bridge yesterday to watch McClean, sounded so downbeat on Friday in Dublin about the player’s chances of making the squad. Ireland play their opening match of Euro 2012 against Croatia on June 10 and must submit their squad for the tournament by the end of May.
Trapattoni also said he had been watching McClean for six months, so the Football Association of Ireland must accept some blame for starting the application process so late, as the player declared for the Republic when he signed for Sunderland back in August.
Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill has already telephoned McClean to try to change his mind, but without success.
Once the eligibility form has been completed, McClean would not be able to play again for Northern Ireland, who he represented seven times at U21 level.
However, he is still prepared to go ahead with the process, even though Trapattoni was not prepared to make any guarantees about caps when he made a media appearance in Dublin on Friday.
McClean was signed by Sunderland’s previous manager Steve Bruce for £350,000 but was fast-tracked into the first team when Martin O’Neill replaced Bruce as manager last month. He scored on his second full appearance against Wigan Athletic and has kept his place since, featuring in yesterday’s 1-0 defeat at Chelsea.
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