Leicester City have had a record-breaking start to the Championship season, and one player has emerged at the heart of that great start. Now Kasey McAteer starts to plot his course on the international scene with reports of which nation he will play for.
Reports suggest that the talented winger, who had a successful spell on loan at League Two AFC Wimbledon last season, will opt for the Republic of Ireland.
Now 21, McAteer has impressed his club manager Enzo Maresca during the club’s fast start. As well as being an attacking creative threat, he has chipped in with four goals from his seven overall appearances which included five starts. He also opened the scoring the the Carabao Cup tie at Liverpool in September, a game the Foxes went on to lose 3-1.
Currently, the young star is sidelined with a hamstring injury and has missed the last two games and could be out for a further month. This has not stopped the praise coming in, especially over the international break.
Ireland Boss Keen
As reported in the Irish Independent, Ireland boss Stephen Kenny spoke after his team’s recent 4-0 win over Gibraltar and seemed to confirm that “he had been working on bringing in an Irish qualified winger from England’s second tier.”
He went on to say. “I’ve always liked wing play and wingers, there has been an absence of that. Some of my early days, we’ve tried to do it, players that gave everything were mainly playing in League 1 at the time. We’ve another winger due to declare. I’m not sure the paperwork is done yet. He’s playing in the Championship.”
Writer’s View
Kasey McAteer is still a raw talent. Being coached well is vital at this stage of any player’s development and it is clear that he is very much in Maresca’s plans. Now he has the chance to pledge his future on the international stage and it is clear that the current Ireland boss is keen for him to sign papers that declare him an Irishman. It would be fair to say his options to play for England would be limited given the amount of attacking players England has, so breaking into the Ireland team would be his best option.
