Giovanni Trapattoni has told Damian Duff he does not need to be playing in The Premier League to be included in Republic of Ireland’s World Cup squad.
Trapattoni’s words will come as a big relief to Newcastle, who would love to keep a player who sacrificed himself time and again this season to play left back in The Magpies’ relegation fight.
Unfortunately for Duff, his efforts were not enough to prevent Newcastle suffering the drop, but Championship football will not harm the wideman’s World Cup credentials – according to Trapattoni.
"He is a great player and the great players are great players, in Ireland, in Newcastle, yesterday or tomorrow,” stated the Italian.
Duff himself is open to the idea of staying at St James’ Park, but he did hint that the club needs to rid itself of a handful of players who do not care what happens to Newcastle Football Club.
"I'm sure the gaffer knows who cares about the club and who stays, who's going work to get out of the Championship," Duff said. "He knows that already.
"There is only one man to get us back up and that is Alan Shearer. I'm sure it'll be him and I'm sure he'll take the job.
"I haven't really looked into it but I've done two years in the Championship before with Blackburn. Why not?"