Everton defender Seamus Coleman has claimed that it is “no secret” that midfielder James McCarthy will be looking to leave the club this summer.
McCarthy only played 14 minutes of Premier League football last season – against Manchester United in April – after spending five months of the campaign recovering from a serious injury before failing to get selected often enough by manager Marco Silva.
Speaking to balls.ie, Coleman urged his 41-time Republic of Ireland teammate to become motivated by trying to focus on reclaiming a spot in the national team.
“I think he’ll probably be trying to get out, there’s no secret of that. He needs a fresh start,” the right-back said.
“What I’ve seen in James, when he came back, if you asked me after four or five weeks how he’s looking, I’d have said ‘ah, he’s doing alright’, but say the last three months, which was good for me to see, he’s been the James McCarthy of old.
“He was firing into tackles in training, he was getting about the pitch, he was doing his sharp, crisp passing like he’s always done, so it was great for me to see that.
“After what I’ve been through, I could just see something change. Just one training session, I saw something change and I was like ‘he’s fine, he’s ready to go’, and he’s just not been getting in. That’s been his problem.
“You know, I text him last night and said ‘Look, you’ve got a big part to play in this Ireland team so get yourself right and get ready to go’, and I’m sure he will do that.”
OPINION
Coleman is spot on with these comments, McCarthy definitely does need a fresh start. It was an absolutely torrid season for the midfielder, proven not least by the fact that he only played 14 minutes in the whole Premier League season. The 28-year-old had two major problems to deal with last term that have led to these claims from Coleman. Firstly, spending the first five months out on the sidelines due to injury is devastating for any player, who would definitely be motivated to get back into his side’s first team after recovering. That was the case for McCarthy, but here comes the second problem: he has not been able to force his way back into contention and that must have really knocked the wind out of his sails. Therefore, as Coleman says, the best thing to do would be to find a club willing to give him regular first-team action – of which there will be many – and focus on having a solid season without injury and really getting his career back on track.