'Have to be careful': Pundits 'concerned' as £17m Everton ace dropped from international squad

Today at 12:15 PM

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 Heimir Hallgrimsson ahead of Ireland’s UEFA Nations League clashes with Finland and Greece.

The one-time Crystal Palace prospect has played only once in 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 nation’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 RTE, Hallgrimsson having worked with the Everton colossus only briefly since getting the Ireland gig in July.

“Just for the reason that the manager has said 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 trained? 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 squad 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.

“You 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 is already under pressure after successive 2-0 defeats during the September break.

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 James 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 him against Newcastle United on Saturday.

Former Shamrock Rovers stopper Graham Gartland, meanwhile, agrees with Treacy as he casts concerns over Hallgrimsson’s 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 feel appreciated’.”

“So, I think you can spoil that for somebody at the start. That would be the one I think you don’t need to experiment with somebody like him.

“You just keep him around and make sure that he’s coming and going to be the future.”