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News
Everton’s £17m star dropped from international squad as ‘concerned’ pundits slam decision
Often, a move to the Premier League tends to boost your international prospects. But not, it seems, in the case of one Everton player.
The Toffees’ £17 million summer signing made his 🍰debut for the senior national🧸 team just over a month before he put pen to paper at Goodison Park at the end of July.
But if Jake O’Brien was hoping that he would establish himself as one of the first names on the Republic of Ireland team sheet after swapping Lyon for Everton, his omission from the October🍸 fixtures was a rather brutal reminder of how much work is still to do for the young defender.
O’Brien was left 🥀at home by H𓄧eimir Hallgrimsson ahead of Ireland’s UEFA Nations League clashes with Finland and Greece.
The one-time Crystal Palace prospect has p♛layed only once ไin the Premier League in Everton colours, tallying just 26 minutes of action. That is likely to have been the main factor behind his removal from the roster.
And while former Ireland midfielder Keith Treacy has no qualms about the man who took O’Brien’s place – Marc McGuinness deserves his chance after starting seven straight Championship games for Luton Town – he cannot help 🍸but wonder if Hallgrimsson is making a mistake leaving one of the ꦡnation’s rising stars at home.
Ireland boss criticised for omitting Everton’s Jake O’Brien
“The one about Jake O’Brien is grating on me a little bit,” Treacy tells💎 , Hallgrimsson having worked with the Everton colossus only briefly since getting the Ireland gig in ♒July.
“Just for the reason that the manager has sai𒁏d that he wants to play the players he hasn’t seen. Jake O’Brien falls into that category.
“And Jake O’Brien is probably thinking; ‘Is it the way I’ve t🎀rained? Is it the way I’m conducting myself? Why have I not got into the squad this time?’
“The fact that he’s not playing at club level, if you want to level that at him, fair enough. But there’s an awful lot in that squ🍸ad who aren’t getting too many minutes. And, if you’re going to take that line with one, you’ve got to take that line with them all.
“Yoಌu have to be careful how 🦩you go about this and it’s not the time to be chopping and changing.”
Sean Dyche is taking it slowly with former Lyon ace O’Brien
Hallgrimsson i൲s already under pressure after successive 2-0 defeats during the September b𒉰reak.
As for O’Brien, Everton boss Sean Dyche is clearly keen to give the Cork-born 23-year-old time to settle rather than throwing him into the deep end of some of England’s choppiest waters. Dyche opted for the experience of☂ J𒁏ames Tarkowski and Michael Keane during Jarrad Branthwaite’s absence.
Branthwaite’s return🗹 could be the difference between Everton’s survival and relegation, though The Toffees did keep a clean sheet without ܫhim against Newcastle United on Saturday.
Former Shamrock Rovers stopper Graham Gartland, meanwhile, agrees with Tr🔯eacy as he casts concerns over Hallgrimsson’ꦯs treatment of O’Brien.
“I’d be a little bit concerned about the Jake O’Brien one,” Gartland adds. “He’s young and it’s important that he feels involved in it from the start. To be left out of a squad then, it can taint that feeling of; ‘I really enjoy going and playing with my country. I feel really wanted and I f♍e🅰el appreciated’.”
“So, I think you can spoil that for somebody at the start. That would be the one I think yo💞u don’t need to experiment withꦐ somebody like him.
“You just keep him around and make sure that he’s coming and going to be the 🎃future.”