Before you say it, yes it is a bad state of affairs that it's a big deal that a young English player says he may play for Ireland, but that's the lie of the land at this moment in time and we simply have to do the best we can using all options open to us.
And if one of those options ends up seeing Nathan Redmond switching his allegiances to the boys in green then we are certainly not going to complain. The 21 year Norwich winger has been on the cusp of a breakthrough for a few years now. He was marked out as a star coming through the ranks at Birmingham and there were suggestions from early on that he could be someone that Ireland would have a look at.
At the beginning of his reign as Ireland manager, Martin O'Neill made it clear that he was 'aware there might be some kind of connection' between Redmond and Ireland. However, it seemed clear that he was very much in England's plans.
He was a key part of Gareth Southgate's England u21 set-up over the past couple of years and now that he's back in the Premier League with Norwich, it seemed certain that he was ready to kick on and make his move towards to the England senior set-up.
However, during an interview with Sport Magazine, he made it clear that was not the only option open to him.
I can still play one more campaign with the England under-21s. And that will be my third campaign. So I can still play for them, but I’m still viable to play for England seniors, and I qualify to play for the Republic of Ireland seniors, too. So when the time hopefully comes to play international football, I’ll have to decide.
Granted, that's not exactly a come and get me plea (Jamaica are also in the mix) but he's certainly left that door open should Martin O'Neill wish to get Wes Hoolahan to have a few words with Redmond over the course of the coming season.
H/T - Pearse Corcoran
