Bradley: Victor should be in Irish squad

Stephen Bradley has doubled down on his view that Victor Ozhianvuna should be in the Ireland squad for May’s training camp in Spain because the young midfielder is doing things that no other player in his position is capable of.

And the Shamrock Rovers boss has stressed that he would be happy to allow Ozhianvuna to miss a league match against Dundalk if it benefited the development of the 17-year-old.

Heimir Hallgrimsson will name his panel this morning and there is no expectation that League of Ireland players will figure because the May 16 friendly with Grenada is outside the regular international window and comes just 24 hours after a full round of games.

Instead, the anticipation is that league players will be in the mix for the trip to Canada during the regular break.

Bradley is convinced that the Arsenal-bound Ozhianvuna should be fasttracked now so he can be familiarised with the set-up with a view to the coming years.

“There’s no one that can tell me that kid shouldn’t be in the Ireland squad,” said Bradley, after watching the €2m teen star in his side’s 4-1 win over Drogheda United, with the Rovers boss honing in on three occasions where the player received the ball under pressure and drove away at pace from his pursuers.

“There’s not one player in the Ireland set-up, from senior team down to Victor’s age, that can do that. No one. And [that’s] not being dismissive of what’s there. He’s different. He takes one on his chest, and within two seconds he’s five yards away from the press. You watch PSG and Bayern Munich the other night and that’s what the game was. All 1 v 1 situations. We’re crying out for something like that, a player that can break lines.

“These games mean nothing. You don’t want to be blooding him in games that you have to win. I think they should put him in now so when the future comes, he’s ready. I promise you get him in that camp and in 10 minutes he’ll show what he is about.”