Roy Keane has blasted Everton over the ongoing James McCarthy row.
Republic of Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane has suggested that Everton’s players need to ‘toughen up’ after James McCarthy pulled out of their squad, as quoted by Balls.ie.
McCarthy, 25, has pulled out of the Ireland squad for the upcoming game against Austria with a hamstring injury, and he’s been at the centre of a blazing club-v-country row.
Everton boss Ronald Koeman was left frustrated when McCarthy played two lots of 90 minutes in a matter of days, despite previously being out injured for around six weeks.
Republic of Ireland’s James McCarthy in action with Georgia’s Levan Mchedlidze
Koeman believed Ireland overworked McCarthy considering his prior injury, and he’s now injured again as he’ll look to recover from his hamstring injury over the international break.
Whilst Koeman and Ireland manager Martin O’Neill are exchanging blows in press conferences, O’Neill’s assistant Roy Keane has now waded in – and it’s as brutal as you would expect.
Keane has been quoted by Balls.ie as saying that Ireland also had a problem with former Everton boss Roberto Martinez, and that Everton should look at their own training schedule before preventing players from featuring for Ireland.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman
Keane added that he can’t even remember the last time Everton won a trophy, and thinks that their players need to toughen up a bit if they want to win silverware again.
Finally, the former Manchester United captain Keane offered a brutally blunt answer when asked about Koeman, simply stating that he couldn’t care less about what the Dutchman has to say.
Republic of Ireland assistant coach Roy Keane
“We’ve had a problem with Roberto Martinez previously – I always felt the Everton players were going to turn up on crutches,” said Keane. “They shouldn’t be so quick to stop Irish players coming to play for Ireland.
“[Darron Gibson] misses a hell of a lot of games for Everton… so maybe they need to look at their own training schedule. I’m not sure when they last won a trophy, so maybe as a club, their players need to toughen up a bit.”
“I couldn’t care less about his opinions,” he added when asked about Everton boss Koeman, as this club-v-country row rumbles on.
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