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PAUL FERGUSON IN VIENNA
FRUSTRATED Michael O’Neill will not bring an immediate end to Kyle Lafferty’s international career after the Rangers striker’s self-imposed absence from his squad for tonight’s Nations League clash with Austria and Monday evening’s match in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Northern Ireland manager is ready to offer the Kesh-born striker (right), scorer of 20 goals in 68 appearances for his country, an olive branch.
O’Neill’s gesture comes even though he is “disappointed” that Lafferty decided, of his own volition, to withdraw his services for the away double header.
Last night, ahead of training at the Ernst Happel Stadium, O’Neill, while still clearly irate, insisted he wouldn’t sound the death-knell on Lafferty’s international career and placed the ball in the 31-year-old’s court.
“It’s not the case that his international career is hanging in the balance, but he certainly hasn’t helped his international future,” claimed O’Neill, who is likely to ask Bolton hitman Josh Magennis to lead his attack tonight.
“Of course he will get a chance to decide his future — unless he decides to retire from international football,” confirmed O’Neill.
“But he certainly hasn’t helped his international future.
“International football is a choice, and at this moment in time, Kyle Lafferty (right) has chosen to make himself unavailable.
“He felt he would be better served not coming and being part of the squad for these two games, albeit he’s been part of the Rangers squad all season.”
O’Neill admitted the timing of Lafferty’s decision to withdraw was poor, but that his focus quickly moved to the players who were in his squad at their training complex in the Avita Resort, Bad Tatzmannsdorf — preparing for tonight’s important match with Austria. Lafferty phoned O’Neill at midnight on Sunday evening to inform the former Newcastle United midfielder he would not be joining up with his team-mates on Monday in Austria due to an ongoing Achilles injury.
But when a representative from O’Neill’s team contacted Lafferty’s club Rangers to discuss the injury, they knew nothing about the issue.
The Irish FA issued a statement on Tuesday night to confirm Lafferty’s withdrawal and O’Neill said he would deal with the issue after the two Na- tions League matches. “I was unhappy to be telephoned 12 o’clock at night, when I was expecting the player to turn up on Monday,” admitted O’Neill. “But he’s no more important than any of the other 23 players we have here.
“There’s no guarantee that Kyle was going to come and play, that’s the reality of the situation. We’ve got other strikers available to play.”
O’Neill plans on having a forthright discussion about Lafferty’s international future and those talks will take place prior to the next interna- tional break in November when Northern Ireland meet the Republic in a friendly at the Aviva Stadium, followed by the final Nations League match against Austria at Windsor Park.
“I haven’t thought about what happens next,” he said.
“It’s certainly not my intention to have a chat with him before the game.
“Since the conversation, my focus has really been preparing the team.
“We won’t play another international until November so there’s plenty of time to have that discussion.
“At the end of the day, the player has made himself unavailable, so we concentrate on the squad we have here.”