Having failed to force his way into Marco Silva’s plans, Seamus Coleman now expects James McCarthy to try and force his way out of Everton, as per quotes reported by Balls.ie.
The Republic of Ireland and Toffees captain discussed his compatriot’s future on Merseyside while on international duty earlier this week, as McCarthy has continued to be overlooked by manager Mick McCarthy, given the 5 ft 9 midfielder featured just twice under Silva for a combined 104 minutes.
Coleman now feels the best thing for McCarthy’s career would be a change of scenery, as he still has something to offer the Green Army at 28-years-old.
“I think he’ll probably be trying to get out, there’s no secret of that,” Coleman told Balls.ie. “He needs a fresh start.
“What I’ve seen in James, when he came back, if you asked me after four or five months [ago] how he’s looking, I’d have said ‘ah, he’s doing alright’, but say the last three months, which was good for me to see, he’s been the James McCarthy of old.
“He was firing into tackles in training; he was getting about the pitch, he was doing his sharp, crisp passing like he’s always done. So it was great for me to see that.
“After what I’ve been through, I could just see something changed [with him]. Just one training session, I saw something change, and I was like ‘he’s fine, he’s ready to go’, and he’s just not been getting in [the side]. That’s been his problem.
“You know, I text him last night and said ‘Look, you’ve got a big part to play in this Ireland team, so get yourself right and get ready to go’, and I’m sure he will do that.”
It would be unlikely that we would recoup much of the reported £13million we spent to sign McCarthy from Wigan Athletic in 2013 if he is sold this summer, as his extreme lack of action following a severe double leg break in January 2018 has seen his TransferMarkt valuation plummet.
At the time of the blow, his market value sat at £10.8million, but, a year and a half on, it now sits at just £4.5m, despite the 2013 FA Cup winner continuing to bank £50,000-a-week on a contract that does not expire until next summer.