Michael O'Neill says team selection will come down to the opposition Northern Ireland are facing as he looks to accommodate talented young defenders Trai Hume and Conor Bradley.
The duo have both had impressive seasons - Bradley on loan at Bolton, and Hume in his debut campaign with Sunderland following his switch from Linfield.
With both playing on the right-hand side of defence there are fears it could develop into a similar situation as Scotland with Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney fighting it out for one left back berth.
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O'Neill though says selection will come down to formation and he didn't rule out both playing at some stage as Hume has also operated on the right side of a back three with the Black Cats.
"They both play in slightly different positions for their club," said the Northern Ireland boss.
"Trai is a right-back and that's where he predominantly played for Sunderland but he was asked to play centre-back in the Play-offs and I saw him play there against Luton and I thought he did very well in the game.
"Conor's playing as a wing-back so it depends on the system that we play.
"We feel that one of our main challenges at the minute is we are lacking wide players who are playing regularly at a high level.
"We have good centre halves playing and playing at a good level, so when we went three at the back and the system that we played, it lent itself to using wing backs which Conor has been playing week in and week out.
"I thought he was more suited for the game than Trai but as I said to Trai, he will play an awful lot for Northern Ireland over the years because he's come in and how he's handled the situation at Sunderland has been terrific.
"He's played a number of positions but to not only make the breakthrough, he looks established and a real leader in that team with how he plays.
"We will see what solutions there are to have the strongest team on the pitch as we can.
"It would be nice to see young players like that in the team but we have to look at the challenge in terms of the opposition and what we feel we need for each individual game."
Both players are set to be included for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers against Denmark and Kazakhstan next month but O'Neill revealed he will still be without several key players.
"None of the long-term injured players will be back for June," he said.
"Corry (Evans) is an ACL, which is a minimum of nine months, as is Steven David, so it will be a push for both of those players to be back for September.
"Stuart (Dallas) has been out for over 12 months now so I'm not going to put a timeframe on when he will be back.
"Liam Boyce is at the end of his ACL so he should be fit for the start of the season and be fit for September."
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