IRELAND BOSS MICK McCarthy says Leeds striker Patrick Bamford will wait until the end of the season before officially declaring for Ireland.
The 25-year-old striker has been an important member of Leeds’ promotion push this season, scoring seven goals in 16 appearances.
Advertisement
He played for Ireland U18s once as a youngster before switching his allegiance to England and representing the Three Lions at underage level, but McCarthy revealed last week that the player had confirmed his intentions to represent the Boys in Green’s senior team.
Bamford won’t be available for the upcoming qualifiers against Gibraltar and Georgia, however, as he has yet to officially declare for Ireland.
McCarthy today confirmed that the player wants to focus on helping Leeds gain promotion to the Championship for now and avoid any outside distractions, including the prospect of international football.
“I won’t be speaking to Patrick Bamford now, he wants to concentrate on his club career for the moment. He’s back in the team he’s scoring goals, Leeds are flying and he doesn’t want anything to distract him, so we just left it, we just parked it and I’ll speak to him in the summer.
“He said that he’ll make himself available in the summer and that he just wants to concentrate on promotion with Leeds. I can understand that. He’s in the team and he’s scoring goals and Leeds want to get promoted. Things can upset you, I get it. He comes to meet me about playing, all of a sudden he doesn’t score, then he gets left out. Footballers can be sensitive to outside influences, I get that. He could be in the Premier League with Leeds next season and he doesn’t want anything to disturb that.”
Subscribe to our new podcast, The42 Rugby Weekly, here:
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
27 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Leeds striker Bamford to wait until summer before officially declaring for Ireland
IRELAND BOSS MICK McCarthy says Leeds striker Patrick Bamford will wait until the end of the season before officially declaring for Ireland.
The 25-year-old striker has been an important member of Leeds’ promotion push this season, scoring seven goals in 16 appearances.
He played for Ireland U18s once as a youngster before switching his allegiance to England and representing the Three Lions at underage level, but McCarthy revealed last week that the player had confirmed his intentions to represent the Boys in Green’s senior team.
Bamford won’t be available for the upcoming qualifiers against Gibraltar and Georgia, however, as he has yet to officially declare for Ireland.
McCarthy today confirmed that the player wants to focus on helping Leeds gain promotion to the Championship for now and avoid any outside distractions, including the prospect of international football.
“I won’t be speaking to Patrick Bamford now, he wants to concentrate on his club career for the moment. He’s back in the team he’s scoring goals, Leeds are flying and he doesn’t want anything to distract him, so we just left it, we just parked it and I’ll speak to him in the summer.
“He said that he’ll make himself available in the summer and that he just wants to concentrate on promotion with Leeds. I can understand that. He’s in the team and he’s scoring goals and Leeds want to get promoted. Things can upset you, I get it. He comes to meet me about playing, all of a sudden he doesn’t score, then he gets left out. Footballers can be sensitive to outside influences, I get that. He could be in the Premier League with Leeds next season and he doesn’t want anything to disturb that.”
Subscribe to our new podcast, The42 Rugby Weekly, here:
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Patience Patrick Bamford Georgia Gibraltar Ireland Republic Leeds United