With the Jack Grealish situation reaching fever pitch again and again and again, it's time we turned our attention elsewhere, for the time being at least. Which is why it is almost laughably good timing that news has emerged that Dan Crowley is set to switch his international allegiance from England to the boys in green.
The Irish Times are reporting that although the Arsenal youngster has been lining out for England u19s he's now ready to accept a call-up to Noel King's squad for Ireland's u21 European Championship qualifying campaign.
The eighteen year old is currently on loan at Barnsley where he has began the League 1 season in fine form. If Ireland fans were excited about the possibility of seeing Jack Grealish in the senior Ireland squad then they should hold plenty of that hope back for Crowley.
Since Arsenal signed him from Aston Villa to much fan fare, Crowley has continued to blossom with Jack Wilshere, who Crowley has often been compared to, tipping him to have a 'big future' in the game.
Born in Coventry, Crowley had represented Ireland at u17 level before switching his allegiance to the English youth setup. Hopes that he may represent Ireland looked to have been dashed but it seems he's had another change of heart and England's prospective loss could be Ireland's gain.
This time last year, we spoke to Crowley's old GAA coach, who stated his belief that the youngster would eventually choose to declare for Ireland and with that prediction looking to have come true, we can only assume Martin O'Neill is already crossing off the days until he can consider calling him up to the senior setup.
For their part, the FAI have told us that it is pure speculation at the moment but we'll choose to mostly ignore that until further notice.
