Ronald Koeman has told James McCarthy he should skip Ireland's World Cup qualifier against Austria in order to stay at Goodison Park, continue his ongoing rehabilitation work and put his recent run of injuries behind him.
The Everton boss reiterated his belief that McCarthy should not have been used by Martin O’Neill in both of Ireland’s World Cup qualifiers last month and disputed his opposite number’s claim that the hamstring injury the midfielder is currently suffering from is unrelated to his return to action then.
McCarthy joined up with the Ireland squad a month ago without having trained fully at his club in the wake of a groin operation and Koeman says that he wants to avoid a repeat of the situation.
“The player is not fit and not involved in team sessions,” said the Dutchman at his press conference to preview Saturday’s Premier league game against Chelsea. “To have a call-up he needs to be close to being fit but it’s a bit of the same story as to what happened last time. We spoke to James and my advice to him is to stay here, train and get fit as soon as possible. But the final decision is down to the player.”
Koeman said much the same thing prior to the games against Georgia and Moldova when McCarthy ultimately decided to travel and O’Neill then decided to play him. He subsequently suggested that Ireland had “overloaded” the player with the two games in quick succession “killing” the 25 year-old but his Ireland counterpart was dismissive of these comments on Wednesday, describing them as “bleating,” and claiming that any attempt to link the original groin injury with the current hamstring problem was “nonsense”.
A key part of O’Neill argument was that McCarthy was used as a second half substitute by Everton that weekend against Manchester City, something the manager insisted fatally undermined Everton’s complaint but Koeman stuck to his guns on Thursday afternoon insisting: “I think his latest injury is about being overloaded when he came back from Ireland yes. My medical staff think that as well, yes.”
Perhaps anticipating that his midfielder will defy him again and seek to make himself available for what is a crucial World Cup qualifier, Koeman ultimately suggested that the player had priorities the wrong way around and said that he had explained his position directly.
“We spoke about what I want,” he said. “It starts from playing for Everton. The player has learned from last time when he was overloaded and got another injury. First be fit, train with your club then you are ready for the national team. Not vice versa.
“It’s difficult for him because he is between Everton and Ireland but first you must do what is best for your club. If you are ready then you can play for your national team but he needs to be fit first. In this situation he needs to be fit again.”
That position may have been undermined in McCarthy's eyes by the fact that he clearly was not a first choice player for the Dutchman before he became injured, something that might have left him with less to lose. Nevertheless, he stands to potentially miss out this weekend as Idrissa Gueye is unavailable and the Irishman might well have been handed the opportunity of a return.
O’Neill sidestepped the question of why he had not spoken to Koeman directly in an attempt to resolve the situation and spare McCarthy further discomfort and the Everton manager seems no more interested in picking up the phone.
“I haven’t spoken to him because it’s not necessary,” he said. “We have the contact between the medical staff. If the manager doesn’t make the right decision than maybe he (McCarthy) can take the decision of the medical staff. But I’ve spoken about this. Let’s stop talking about this - I spoke about him, he speaks about me, let’s stop.”
