Patrick Bamford has long been touted as the possible goalscorer that the Irish national squad need. The player himself played one solitary game in green at u19 level, but since then has failed to register a single international cap for either England or Ireland.
The striker, who was born in the UK, has been an integral part to the Leeds set up in the premier league, scoring six goals in six games, proving many naysayers wrong. Some in the media have called for him to be included in the next England squad, but at the age of 27, is he really going to start ahead of up and comers like Dominic Calvert Lewin and Mason Greenwood. He certainly won’t get ahead of Harry Kane who is in sensational form.
Bamford has all ready rejected advances from former Irish manager Mick McCarthy, but he himself put that down to recovering from an injury stating “I am not saying no, I am just concentrating on Leeds. I haven’t closed any doors. I have not said yes, I have not said no.”
Stephen Kenny will undoubtedly will be looking for a goal scorer, especially a premier league one. After five games in charge, Ireland have only managed to score a single goal, one which came from defender Shane Duffy. Let’s be honest we have struggled to replace Robbie Keane since his retirement in 2016. Could Bamford be the answer?
Do you go back after initial advances were rejected? Maybe he never dreamed of playing for Ireland but can we be that picky? Former Republic of Ireland Junior International Billy Walsh was speaking with KCLR at the weekend about the possibility
“I dont we are in a position that we can use to pride to not go back for Bamford. I don’t know what happened between Mick McCarthy and him , but does he have the will to play for Ireland? Its the highest honour you can get to represent your country , you really really got to want to do it. I don’t think we are in a position to turn people down. If I were Stephen Kenny I would want to see that he would really want to play for Ireland, other then that no.”
