THERE WAS A moment of realisation for Jason Knight as he spoke about his club future following the Republic of Ireland’s 3-0 win over Gibraltar on Monday night.
Derby County are preparing for another season in League One, but the 22-year-old has options to further his career elsewhere.
Bristol City have attempted to move early, making two bids for the versatile star.
That, in turn, has prompted Ipswich Town to firm up their interest. The newly-promoted Championship side impressed in League One under Fermanagh native, and former Manchester United first-team coach, Kieran McKenna.
It leaves Knight with some thinking to do during the few days he has to get away on holiday before deciding where his future lies ahead of the start of pre-season.
And when is that?
“The end of June,” he replied, pausing. “We are nearly at the end of June now, sure.”
Like so many others, this is a time to weigh up ambition with the understanding that loyalty will be admired by some but treated as a weakness by others.
Preparations for the new English season began while the current one still continued.
Moving parts and shifting targets make this time of year ideal cannon fodder for the aggregator accounts on social media and vacuous columns in newspapers.
As one source put it to The 42 this week, mid-to-bottom half Premier League clubs are still at the delusional stage of their window, prioritising unrealistic targets in the hope a player who will eventually cost in the region of €30 million might somehow come through the door for half that price.
Clubs dealing in reality will get their business done promptly – if they want to.
As another source joked, the transfer window countdown clock hasn’t started on Sky Sports News so the mayhem hasn’t really started.
Clubs and agents are still feeling each other out. This is a time when everything has a knock-on effect.
Last summer, for example, John Eustace decided to end his brief tenure as assistant coach with Ireland after the Birmingham City manager’s job became available. Stephen Kenny had expected him to join the St Andrew’s coaching staff under boss Mark Warburton, only for David Moyes to offer Warburton a place on his bench at West Ham following Stuart Pearce’s decision to step aside.
Birmingham lost out to the bigger fish and turned to Eustace to fill the void.
So much is out of the control of people who feel the aftershocks.
Even those players at the epicentre cannot be sure of what is next.
Vincent Kompany’s Burnley returned for pre-season on the Monday before Manchester City beat Inter Milan in the Champions League final. The Premier League beckons and the Belgian was wasting no time.
That work ethic is something which new signing Dara O’Shea was won over by, the first confirmed transfer this summer involving a senior Ireland international who played during the last window.
It is unlikely to be the last.
Several of the players involved in the Euro 2024 qualifiers with Greece and Gibraltar are either set to move or face a new challenge with their current employers.
Matt Doherty is weighing up a possible deal in Saudi Arabia while Andrew Omobamidele, who missed the most recent internationals through injury, is a target for Crystal Palace should their England international centre back Marc Guehi leave for Tottenham Hotspur in a deal that will likely exceed €50 million.
AC Milan are another club loitering in the background, joined by many others who have their targets but are yet to act.
Omobamidele is the jewel in Norwich City’s crown having emerged through their academy following his arrival from Leixlip United, and the signing of his Ireland teammate Shane Duffy also adds some experience.
The constant state of flux presents challenges and opportunities for Irish players, the majority of whom find themselves developing at different rates in their careers.
Nathan Collins is only 22 but the cattle-market nature of the business means he is likely to have his fourth English club since leaving Cherry Orchard for Stoke City as a teenager. Brentford will have to make a third bid north of €23m if Wolves are to allow a defender who was signed for a similar amount from Burnley last summer depart.
His situation at Molineux is a well-worn tale of woe for nearly all fellow pros. A firm favourite under Bruno Lage, the head coach who signed him and quickly likened him to Manchester City’s Ruben Dias whom he had worked with at Benfica, Collins then lost his place when Julen Lopetegui took over to help avoid relegation from the Premier League.
“It’s not for me to say really,” Collins said of his future after being named senior men’s player of the year at the FAI awards on Tuesday.
“That’s football. Who knows what the club may do. I’m just going back on 10 July to play football.”
Spoken like a pro who, while not quite weary, knows the way of the world by now.
He may well be back far earlier should Brentford be successful and head coach Thomas Frank insist he gets to work understanding a new system.
The situations of Ireland’s three goalkeepers illustrate the unstable nature of their position.
Gavin Bazunu has a new manager – his fourth – at Southampton following relegation from the Premier League. Russell Martin has been appointed and promotion at the first time of asking will be demanded.
Stagnation in an ultra competitive division can lead to decades in the wilderness – hello Sheffield Wednesday – so will the Dubliner be the trusted first choice for a promotion push?
Mark Travers, too, will return to a fresh face in the Bournemouth dugout after highly-rated Spaniard Andoni Iraola was confirmed as Gary O’Neil’s replacement just two hours after his departure was announced this week.
Travers started the Premier League campaign as first choice but didn’t make it beyond September, and another campaign as back-up won’t do any good. Bournemouth will also know that his value in the market will only drop as his contract winds down and he stays on the bench.
The same goes for Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher, whom Kenny insists could be set to leave Anfield for regular football at 24. Jurgen Klopp, however, is not so keen to lose the man he has described as the best No 2 in the world.
Knight, Collins, Bazunu, Travers and Kelleher have an average age of 23.4, while those in the forward position for Ireland are even younger.
Evan Ferguson won’t turn 19 until October, by which time we will have an even greater sense of his ability and potential under Roberto De Zerbi at Brighton.
New Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou will run the rule over Troy Parrott, although a fifth loan spell in four years seems far more likely for a 21-year-old who has shown sporadic glimpses of class but also suffered brutally with injuries.
Adam Idah, 22, knows the feeling on the front but with a new Norwich contract signed in March that keeps him at the club until 2028 he at least has some security. His manager doesn’t, though, as David Wagner agreed a 12-month rolling deal in January.
Michael Obafemi, also 22, went on loan to Burnley from Swansea City and that is a deal also to be made permanent.
Not that anything stays that way.
