Jonny Evans named in injury-hit Northern Ireland squad for upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers
Jonny Evans is back in the Northern Ireland squad for next week’s Euro 2024 qualifiers but Michael O’Neill will once again be relying on youth with a long list of senior players still injured.
Evans – out of contract at relegated Leicester this summer – was unable to add to his 100 caps in March when he was forced to pull out of O’Neill’s first games back in charge of the national team due to a hamstring injury, but is in a 28-man squad to play Denmark away and Kazakhstan at home.
But with Steven Davis, Stuart Dallas, Corry Evans, Liam Boyce, Josh Magennis, Conor Washington, and Shane Ferguson all still sidelined, O’Neill has included five uncapped players, with 15 of the 28 having fewer than 10 caps.
Nottingham Forest defender Aaron Donnelly, West Ham teenager Callum Marshall and Larne forward Lee Bonis have all received their first call-ups, with the uncapped Sean Goss and Eoin Toal again included after not featuring in March’s fixtures.
Blackpool striker Shayne Lavery returns after a hamstring injury kept him out of the last squad, although there will be a question over his fitness levels as he has managed only one appearance, as a substitute away to Norwich on the final day, since being sidelined in February.
There is also a return for Ethan Galbraith, who earned the last of his two international caps back in 2020.
The 22-year-old is a free agent this summer after leaving Manchester United, having spent last season on loan at Salford.
O’Neill has been working with several players from both the senior ranks and the under-21s at a series of training camps in recent weeks, aiming to keep his players sharp following the end of their domestic campaigns.
Northern Ireland travel to Copenhagen to face Denmark on Friday 16 June before taking on Kazakhstan at Windsor Park the following Monday
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Leicester City squad rebuild – goalkeepers: Long-held plan may be abandoned as choices needed
Leicester City squad rebuild – goalkeepers: Long-held plan may be abandoned as choices needed
A closer look at each area of the Leicester City squad as manager Enzo Maresca starts making decisions and building a side for the new Championship season, starting with the goalkeepers
Enzo Maresca may not be overseeing training sessions at Leicester City’s Seagrave base right now, but that does not mean he’s twiddling his thumbs.
Earlier this week, the new manager confirmed that Jamie Vardy would be staying with the club, going on to explain that those sorts of matters were his priority at the moment. He told the Telegraph: “That’s what we’re currently doing, looking at the squad and planning for next season.”
With that in mind, we are analyzing each area of the squad, looking at some of the decisions Maresca will have to make alongside Director of Football Jon Rudkin and Head of Recruitment Martyn Glover. We start with the goalkeepers.
The plan may have to be dropped
It has long been City’s intention to buy a new number one. They started their hunt for a goalkeeper well in advance of Kasper Schmeichel’s departure, with interest in Brighton’s Robert Sanchez emerging before the end of the 2021-22 season. That link, and the Premier League appearance that Danny Ward was handed a few games from the end of that campaign, made it clear to Schmeichel that the club was not desperate to keep him, and wouldn’t be renewing his contract when it ended.
His deal would have expired this summer, but rather than stick around to see it out, the Dane left for Nice. But with money tight, plans to bring a new number one were put on hold, and the decision was made to reward Ward for his patience and give him an opportunity. His poor form saw him dropped, and Daniel Iversen finished the season with the gloves.
Had City stayed up, they would have had greater control over the revamp of their squad, and signing a new number one would have been back on the agenda. But now they’ve gone down, it may be off the cards.
Because they are in the Championship and they are expected to lose more players than they would have done prior, there are more positions that need addressing. In some areas of the team, City is desperately short of numbers, but in goal, there’s not expected to be a clamor to sign either Ward or Iversen nor is there a requirement to move them on because of their contracts.
So the questions Maresca and City’s squad planners must answer are: do they trust Ward or Iversen to be number one in the Championship? Are there more pressing areas of the squad to invest in? Or is a high-performing goalkeeper going to be so crucial to City’s success that a new number one does need to be on the to-do list? With the sheer number of players needed in midfield and out wide, it may be that City give one of their current goalkeepers another chance.
One spot for two keepers
But then comes another issue. City may have to decide between the pair. While both Ward and Iversen may be happy to be deputy in the Premier League, they may have different thoughts on the matter in the Championship.
In any case, City may feel they do need both. They have Alex Smithies under contract for another year, and in the season before he moved to the King Power Stadium, he was number one for a Championship club. It does not seem unreasonable that he could now be number two.
So that would mean moving on one of Ward or Iversen. Of the two, Iversen’s shot-stopping puts him ahead in the pecking order, but if Maresca values a goalkeeper’s footwork as highly as Brendan Rodgers did, then Ward may be preferred.
Also, City may have to think about which of the pair is the most marketable. Last summer, after his campaign on loan at Preston, there were Championship sides keen to take Iversen, and re-establishing interest in him would not be difficult.
But while Iversen is the easier to offload, promoting Ward back to number one would not inspire confidence in City supporters. While there was patience over at first, particularly when he started to improve last autumn, that had run out by the time Iversen was drafted in.
In the Championship, City would hope their goalkeeper is not going to be as busy as they were last season, but equally, the success of their defense may also depend on their confidence in the man behind them. There did not seem a great deal of that when the Welshman was between the sticks.
Up-and-comers are best served on loan
The boldest option available to Maresca would be to promote Jakub Stolarczyk all the way up. He was tipped for the top this time last year by Rodgers but didn’t get as much game-time as hoped last season, only beginning to start matches when he went on loan to Hartlepool in League Two for the second half of the campaign. Despite good reviews for his performances, he could not keep them in the EFL.
While he has potential, stepping all of the way up from a League Two relegation battle to a Championship promotion fight feels like a big leap. He would be best served taking the route Iversen has, and stepping up a level with each loan spell until he’s ready for the Premier League. In that case, it’s a matter of loan manager Robert Huth finding him a League One club where he can start.
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