Northern Ireland’s young guns - including Manchester City teenager Shea Charles - will be knocking on the door for senior caps in the very near future.
That’s the view of Rotherham United new boy Conor Washington who has been hugely impressed by the new faces in Ian Baraclough’s squad.
Charles, who has starred for City U23s and trained with Pep Guardiola’s first team squad, has been elevated to the senior panel for this month’s Nations League games.
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And Washington expects big things from the 18-year-old midfielder who was born in Manchester but qualifies for Northern Ireland through his mum.
“We’ve got young players who are at top clubs,” said Washington. “Shea is at Manchester City and you can tell he’s been at Man City.
“The technical ability of some of these players is frightening and I think they’re going to be knocking on the door really soon and also making sure us older lads are on our game.”
Charles is one of several new young faces in Baraclough’s squad alongside the likes of Rangers midfielder Charlie McCann (20) and Huddersfield Town’s Brodie Spencer (18).
Others including Nottingham Forest midfielder Darren Robinson (17), Brighton defender Ruairi McConville (17) and Leeds midfielder Charlie Allen (18) were also part of a recent training camp at St George’s Park.
“We’ve heard the names and the speculation on who is going to be the next ones to break through, so it was great to put faces to names at the camp,” said Washington.
“The question always gets asked ‘can the next generation be successful’ because our player pool is relatively small, but I think Northern Ireland is in safe hands.”
While a number of younger players have been promoted to the senior panel, one of the headlines from last week’s squad announcement was the return of Kyle Lafferty.
The veteran striker had been overlooked in recent windows but forced his way back into Baraclough’s plans after a strong second half of the season with Kilmarnock.
The 34-year-old, who joined Killie in January, scored eight goals in 14 league games to help fire the Rugby Park club to promotion and the Championship title.
“For all that gets said about Kyle off the pitch, he’s still so good at the top of the pitch,” said Washington.
“If you can get him playing regularly and scoring goals he’s going to be an asset to anybody. Off the pitch he brings what he brings and he’s brilliant to have around the place.”
On moving from Charlton to Rotherham, who are newly promoted to the Championship, at the weekend, Washington said: “It was nice to get the move done early.
“With the security of knowing where I’ll be next season, I don’t have to worry about it and I can just solely concentrate on these games.”
Northern Ireland face four Nations League games in 11 days, starting at home to Greece on Thursday night.
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