|
Duff is included in the Republic of Ireland squad for the friendly international against Netherlands at Lansdowne Road on Wednesday, August 16 (7.30 pm ko).
Said Staunton “As long as he's happy, that's good. Obviously, he wasn't happy at Chelsea and from what I can gather, he's produced some good performances in pre-season, even though he's not match-fit. Not many of them will be (match-fit) at this stage of the season” he said.
The manager elected to give a senior call-up to another Newcastle player, 21-year old Alan O'Brien, for the first time in the winger's career and he also included another Newcastle player, Stephen Carr, who is ready to return to international duty after opting out twelve months ago.
Said Staunton: “Alan O'Brien has had a very, very good pre-season. We had him watched at the weekend (against Villareal in a friendly) when he came on and had a big influence on Newcastle coming back into the game.”
He added: “The reports from my senior players there about Alan are very good and my ‘B' team Manager (Pat Devlin) was at the game. He had chat with the coaching staff there and they've been very impressed with him.”
Of his decision to include Carr in his squad of 24 for the match, the manager said:
“The most important part was that Stephen Carr wanted to come back and play for Ireland.
“There wasn't a great deal of work needed in changing his mind, to be honest. Bobby Robson met him the day after we were appointed and once we had a wee conversation, it became easy after that.”
Sixteen years old striker Terry Dixon, from Tottenham Hotspur, retained his place in the squad following his promotion for the May friendly against Chile and the end of season training camp exercise in the Algarve.
“Young Dixon is in on merit for what he produced over in Portugal,” revealed Staunton. “As far as I'm concerned, he's a talent and he showed enough out in Portugal to warrant a place in this squad.”
Joey O'Brien from Bolton Wanderers was not considered for the squad due to an injury he picked up for his club at the end of last season.