Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has admitted he is tearing his hair out over Leeds United’s Patrick Bamford as he tries to talk with the striker over switching international allegiances.
The 25-year-old is English born and raised, with two caps for the Three Lions’ under-21 squad, but also qualifies for the Irish national side through his family.
McCarthy admits that the Leeds man has been on his radar for some time and that a meeting was arranged but postponed, with the forward causing the international boss a great amount of frustration over the lack of correspondence.
He told the Irish Independent: “I have been chasing Patrick now for a long time. He wanted to meet me with his dad and I said fine; I’ll come and see you but then that got kiboshed (due to a rescheduled Leeds fixture).
“I’ve been doing all the chasing. I think that it’s time – if he wants to play – he picks up the phone and gets hold of me or sends me a WhatsApp.
“He full well knows now that I’ve been doing my damnedest to meet him. And by the way, he is not playing for me, he is playing for Ireland. But I’ve got players who are playing, I’ll go and watch them, see them play.”
Opinion
It seems as though Bamford is not entirely certain on whether or not he wants to be playing for the Republic of Ireland but with little to no chance of an England call up, he really should be making the most of McCarthy’s desire to get him in the squad. There is no guarantee that the next boss, who has confirmed to be Stephen Kenny, will take a liking to the Leeds ace as McCarthy has and so the best way to guarantee a future under the new man in charge is to make yourself undroppable under the current manager. He is playing for one of the top teams in the Championship and has shown great desire to come back from a serious injury so there should be little trouble in forcing his way into the national setup. McCarthy is waiting patiently but that is not going to be the case forever and so the striker best pull his finger out or miss out on the chance of a lifetime.