Derry City and Northern Ireland are waving goodbye to one of their brightest young talents, James McClean. We take a closer look at the Sunderland-bound winger.
Sixth player in three years to abandon NI for the Republic
Following in the footsteps of Darron Gibson, Shane Duffy, Marc Wilson, Daniel Kearns and Paul George, McClean is continuing what has become a trend for promising Northern Irish players to switch to the south. Only thing is, Giovanni Trapattoni hasn’t come calling for McClean yet.
Never attended a music festival
In an interview with yourderry.com in April of this year, the 22-year-old revealed he has never been to Oxegen, Electric Picnic or any other gig for that matter. He’s not a drinker either and is addicted to ‘Football Manager’.
Life-long Celtic fan
If McClean doesn’t shine at the Stadium of Light, I wouldn’t be ruling out a switch to the Hoops. A Celtic fan since his childhood, McClean would relish a chance to fulfill his dream and would likely prosper in the SPL.
£50k for his schoolboy team
You reap what you sow and how that rings true for McClean’s youth team in Creggan, Trojans F.C. Once his transfer to Sunderland goes through – believed to in the region of £350,000 – the tiny Derry club will be handed a fat cheque for £50,000.
A clap on the back goes to Derry & District Youth F.A. for agreeing a deal with Derry City. If a player progresses from the local youth league through to the Brandywell, the feeder club will receive a 15 per cent cut of any transfer fee received by Derry.
MOTD reporters will have trouble interviewing him
In his thick Nordie accent, we can only imagine how Garth Crooks will manage a Q&A. Just watch this interview with the world’s youngest hack from about 4:30 onwards:
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