Liam McAlinden, the 19 year old Wolves striker, has switched allegiance from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland. McAlinden becomes the latest in a series of promising young players to switch to the Republic from Northern Ireland.

McAlinden is English born and qualifies for Northern Ireland through his grandfather, however he has several family members from the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill told the Sunday Life he had done his utmost to keep the player with the Northern Ireland set up, but the lure of the Republic, and possible family pressures, had meant his endeavour was futile.

"Liam is a player who we had high hopes for and we've tried everything to keep him," said O’Neill.

"I even went down to meet Liam and his agent Stephen. Could you imagine Giovanni Trapattoni doing that?

"But that's what we need to do because we have such a small pool of players to choose from.

"Sadly for us the pull of the Republic was too strong. Liam qualifies for us through his grandfather born in Northern Ireland but most of his family are from the Republic.

"I think they've been in his ear and obviously family means a lot to a player, and he's chosen to go and try his luck with the Republic,” he added.

Other notable names to switch allegiance include James McLean, Darron Gibson, Marc Wilson and Shane Duffy, all of whom played for Northern Ireland at youth level.