James McCarthy has insisted that he wants to play for the Republic of Ireland and not Scotland.
The Wigan Athletic midfielder is in the squad for Ireland’s Euro 2012 Group B qualifier with Macedonia at the Aviva Stadium, but that did not stop further speculation in the last few days that the gifted youngster would turn his back on the Boys in Green and opt to play for the country of his birth.
He was named in the squad for the qualifier and subsequent Dublin friendly with Uruguay after meeting Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni and declaring his intentions, that after he missed the Carling Nations Cup game with Wales last month. However, Wigan boss Roberto Martinez was since quoted as saying that McCarthy would wait until the end of the Premier League season to decide on his international future.
McCarthy, 20, has already played for Ireland in a friendly with Brazil early in 2010 but, until he plays in a competitive game, is still free to switch allegiances to Craig Levein’s side.
However, he has moved to end all speculation that that will happen, having
said in the Daily Record: "I appreciate the interest from Scotland but I do not want to go back on my word. I am, and will remain, a Republic of Ireland player. I hope to play against Macedonia next weekend and that will put any talk of Scotland to bed once and for all. There can be no going back after that.
"I’ve had to contend with this for a few years. But it has all stemmed from other people wanting it to happen. It reached new levels, when I withdrew from the Ireland squad to play Wales.
"It was all above board. I was not long back in the Wigan team after three months out with an ankle injury and I was still taking things slowly as I didn’t want to risk anything. But this became a huge story and all the talk of me playing for Scotland resurfaced.
"My phone never stopped ringing. I’ve never received so many text messages and listened to so many voice mails.
"Some people may have thought I was going to pledge myself to Scotland but that was never on my mind, although a couple of people did speak to me about it. But I never spoke directly to Craig Levein about it.
"Trapattoni flew to England to see me. He wanted to look me in the eye and ask if I was happy and committed to Ireland. I told him I was happy and wanted to play for him. We were both satisfied at the end of it."