International duty ‘will be good’ for Aaron Connolly – Brighton boss Graham Potter
Brighton manager Graham Potter believes that a stint of World Cup duty this week "will be good" for Aaron Connolly after they gave him permission to join up with the Ireland squad even though the Galway native has been out with an injury.
And Seagulls boss Potter has also stated that Connolly admitted he let "himself and the team down" with a recent breach of lockdown regulations which led to a sanction from the club.
Connolly was not involved with Brighton in Saturday's win over Newcastle United as he tried to shake off a rib injury, but he was able to hook up with the Irish squad in Manchester ahead of Wednesday's World Cup tie in Serbia, where Connolly is line to start.
"He has been injured. I felt he needed a few more days' training before he was available for the bench and I think he will get that when he goes away with the national team," Potter said when asked why Connolly did not feature against Newcastle.
"That is good for us and it is good for him. He has just had a couple of days training so we did not want to rush him back. He needed more time. He will be available for the Irish national team and I think that will be good for him.
"Aaron has been really good. He's trained, he's been injured, he cracked his rib. He has trained the last few days and trained really well."
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Potter also elaborated on the incident where Connolly was asked by the club to explain his actions where he broke lockdown regulations by inviting someone to his home and became the subject of a front-page story in a Sunday newspaper.
"He knows he's made a mistake and let himself and the team down and he's accepted that, we have dealt with that and we have moved on," Potter added. "He understands what has happened but we have to move on and accept the mistake and move on."
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