There was fuss and noise when James McCarthy moved clubs just eight years ago, with a price tag of £13m on his head, the second-highest fee Everton had ever paid for a player. 

But there was a mere whimper last week when it was confirmed that Crystal Palace had released the midfielder who, incredibly, is still only 30. It means that after two injury-scarred seasons with Palace, McCarthy is a free agent, a fate which also befell his international team-mate Robbie Brady, a one-time record signing by Burnley who was also let go.

And former international and ex-Palace player Damien Delaney admits that the midfield pair will struggle to gain employment at a Premier League club for next season with a drop into the Championship their most likely career move while Delaney also fears that McCarthy may even have to quit international football to save his club career.

“There does come a point for James where he has to see that there are young lads coming through, maybe it’s time to step aside and let the young lads play,” Delaney said at yesterday’s launch of the Paddy Power #SaveOurGame campaign. 

“I’m sure James wants to play for Ireland. But if he is going to travel into every squad – September, October, November – traipsing all over Europe, then he’s trying to juggle a club career as well, I’m sure the manager of whatever club he ends up at will be putting a little bit of pressure on him, saying you need to stay here, you need to recover. There’s an awful lot of injury prevention work you need to do in these breaks.

“That is absolutely a decision James is going to have to take. But I’m sure if he was given certain assurances that if he came in he would get minutes under Stephen [Kenny], that might be the motivation for him to work harder and keep coming in. But I presume if he is not going to be playing, then there won’t be much benefit in him coming in.

“These are all decisions that he will be weighing up at the moment, but I suppose his club career is his bread and butter, and if his club career isn’t going well there is no international football. So you have to make sure your club career is in order.

“That’s what he needs to do at the moment and then the international will follow. But you can’t have one without the other, so he needs to focus on his club, get himself right and then judge it moving forward,” added Delaney, who played for Ireland alongside McCarthy four times.

He admits that McCarthy and Brady could struggle to win a contract in the English top-flight. 

“A Premier League club would be difficult but then again managers are always looking for squads, some managers are eternally optimistic and think if I can get Robbie Brady right or he can get himself right, then we have a very good player, the same with James,” he added.

“People are always looking for bargains, good value for money, and if Robbie or James’s fitness issues can be ironed out, there is an awful lot of those two in a free transfer, some managers and directors of football are eternally optimistic so I can’t rule it out but it might have to be Championship, which is no bad thing, the Championship is an incredible level and it might be the right environment for those guys,” concluded Delaney.

 

Eamon Dunphy and Damien Delaney attended the launch of the Paddy Power #SaveOurGame campaign. Each time England score at Euro 2020, Paddy Power will donate €10k to Irish football