There has, of course, always been a tendency to judge the health of our national team by how many of its players earn their keep – and thrive – in England’s Premier League. And based on that metric, it has not been a pretty picture in recent times. On the face of it, last season looked a bit more positive, 17 players making appearances, but six of them were relegated to the Championship – Burnley’s Dara O’Shea, Josh Cullen and Michael Obafemi (Burnley), Sheffield United’s John Egan and Sam Curtis and Luton’s Chiedozie Ogbene.
So, how might this season look? The transfer window does not close until August 30th, so there could be a few Irish comings and goings yet, and it’s possible that some Irish players, including Wolves’ Joe Hodge and Bournemouth’s Gavin Kilkenny, will go out on loan again.
Goalkeepers
After Gavin Bazunu’s Southampton won promotion last season, there are now three senior Republic of Ireland goalkeepers in the Premier League, Caoimhín Kelleher (Liverpool) and Mark Travers (Bournemouth) the others. But how much game time will they get? For all the talk of him moving on, Kelleher remains at Liverpool, but their interest in Georgia’s Giorgi Mamarsashvili suggests they could be anticipating his departure. If he stays, though, he will, once again, be Alisson’s understudy.
The Achilles injury he sustained back in April means that Bazunu will be on the sidelines for a while yet, but on his return he stands a good chance of dislodging Alex McCarthy, as he did for most of last season. It could be a harder ask for Travers to take the place of Bournemouth captain Neto, although the latter’s back injury saw the Kildare man feature in preseason.
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Defence
Remarkably, Seamus Coleman is about to start his 16th season for Everton, although the 35-year-old was injured in preseason. He was joined at the club by Jake O’Brien this summer after his €18 million move from Lyon, but he might have to be patient before he can break up the central defensive partnership of James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite. Branthwaite will miss the start of the season, though, so there could be an early chance for O’Brien to stake his claim.
Andrew Omobamidele had to be no less patient after his move from Norwich City to Nottingham Forest a year ago, not featuring at all in the league in the first half of the season. He will hope his fortunes change this time around. Nathan Collins had a more successful time of it at Brentford, Dara O’Shea the only Republic of Ireland player to rack up more Premier League minutes – they could end up as team-mates yet if Brentford follow up their interest in O’Shea.
Matt Doherty could struggle again to oust Nelson Semedo from the right-back role at Wolves, while Ryan Manning has stiff enough competition too for the left-back slot at Southampton, although he impressed manager Russell Martin when he was tried out as a holding midfielder in preseason.
Midfield
Will Smallbone could well prove to be the only Republic of Ireland midfielder to start regularly this season having rarely been out of the Southampton team in the last campaign. Ipswich Town’s Jack Taylor, the 2020 Irish under-21 player of the year, made 33 appearances for them en route to promotion, but 26 of them were from the bench. Joe Hodge and Andy Moran, meanwhile, could be facing loan spells again.
Attack
Goals were hard to come by for Evan Ferguson last season, the 19-year-old finishing with six in 27 league appearances, but that did not stop yet another summer of speculation linking him with big money moves to the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United. He is back in training for Brighton after the ankle injury that cut last season short, and it will be interesting to see how he develops under new manager Fabian Hürzeler. Another Irish 19-year-old striker at the club, Mark O’Mahony, will hope to build on his progress from last season when he made three appearances.
Having finished as the Championship’s top scorer last season, it seemed like only a matter of time before Sammie Szmodics would get his chance with a Premier League club – that has now come with his move to Ipswich. And another player who made his senior debut for Ireland this year, Tom Cannon, is in Leicester City’s ranks having joined them from Everton last September. Franco Umeh might yet leave Crystal Palace on loan, but the 19-year-old former Cork City winger is catching the eye at the club.
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