QuoteOh that's interesting. Turns it from maybe being a token youth call-up - maybe due to others having covid - to a player with possibly genuine promise.
Is he capped at any level yet?
17 year old winger made his debut on 84th minute for Getafe today in La Liga in their 3-0 loss. One to keep an eye on
Oh that's interesting. Turns it from maybe being a token youth call-up - maybe due to others having covid - to a player with possibly genuine promise.
Is he capped at any level yet?
Four Christian Names !Originally Posted by tommy_c12000
Interesting that he's going by John Patrick and has J. Patrick on the back of his shirt which looks pretty cool!
Wiki says he hasn't played for the reserves yet, which is remarkable. He's either being fast-tracked, or they're very short of players at the moment for whatever reason
Also says he's eligible for Spain, Ireland and Cameroon, but doesn't mention France, strangely.
I've heard you should never trust a man with two first names (or three in the TV series Justified) - so how should we treat a man with four?!
Seriously, though, Stephen Kenny needs to get on the blower to Getafe and ensure we don't lose Finn and Nolan for want of trying - could give Finn a call-up for the U19 qualifiers in March
Came on in 87 minutes today. Getafe losing again 0-1 to Sevilla. Nolan unused substitute (as he was for their B team last week which was unusual)
Has this kid ever shown any interest in playing for Ireland do we know? Im sure since he was so high profile at Real he would have been approached by the FAI at some point.
There's nothing at all to suggest that he is interested in playing for us. There are under 19 qualifiers in the spring so we'll find out then but I have a feeling this lad will never pull on an Ireland jersey.
In the category of Deji Sotona in Nice so. Keep an eye on him but will probably not play for us
Sotona has played for us underage at least. It's not uncommon for some of these lads who have non-Irish born parents and heritage to just not be that bothered. Wouldn't rule him out either.
OK, let's get it right this time - make sure he has an Irish passport, then let him play competitive underage internationals for Spain - when it becomes clear he's not in the top 50 Spanish players of his time, he chooses to make a permanent switch to the only country he can now qualify for... Us!
We could probably just ask him to the next U19 camp, which might be a bit simpler.
And can I counter by asking you what evidence there is to suggest that he is not interested in playing for us?
He was nine years old when he went to Real Madrid. I don't think the FAI approach nine year olds. He was released by Madrid and spent time in regional leagues as far as I know so not likely to be on the radar.
He hasn't played for Ireland.
His dad is Irish born so the passport isn't even an issue as he's a citizen at birth. Just need to invite him to camps and get him involved soon really.
Let’s call him up and see what happens. The worst thing he can do is say no. But speaking as a guy who grew up outside of Ireland but has always felt a strong connection to Ireland and the national team, I’d urge the FAI to be proactive in engaging potential dual nationals.
I suspect in some cases modesty prevents these players from making the first move, and in reality some of these guys would love to be involved in our setup.
Put more basically, how many of us would do anything to make our dad proud? Maybe this guy feels no affinity for Ireland and if that’s the case then he shouldn’t be involved with us — but my attitude is — let’s ask the question in good faith if he’s interested, and take it from there.
He's had quite a high profile and v strong irish roots, been in press since 2013. Is there reason to think he hasn't been approached? Maybe he wasn't selected??! He does seem to have come out of the blue ability wise, realised by Real Madrid to making La Liga debut a couple of years later with zero updates on him in between really.
To be fair, there hasn't been a lot of games for him to play in. The U17s elite round qualifiers in March were cancelled, so this year they only played two friendlies against Switzerland in February.
From that squad - https://www.fai.ie/ireland/match/55506/2020/999946371 - Evan Ferguson (born October 2004) and Andrew Moran(b. October 2003) are both younger than Finn (b. September 2003)
He's overage for the qualifiers for the 2021 UEFA U17 Champinships (players born on or after 1st January 2004 are eligible), so is eligible for the U19s. The U19s were drawn against Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Estonia in Group 7, which is being held here in March - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_U...cation#Group_7 - so let's wait and see if he's in that squad.
Of course, if he's playing regularly in La Liga at that stage, there will be calls for him to be in the senior squad to play Serbia, Luxembourg, and Qatar in March
If you really want to muddy the waters, would playing him against Qatar - not technically a competitive international, but in the group fixtures - tie him to us internationally?
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