McCarthy’s a talent but he ain’t yet a midfield messiah
The answer, however, is almost certainly the latter, since it seems improbable if not downright impossible that, facing a season of huge transition in the Championship, Wigan will be able to hold onto one of their most prized assets. Then again, hardly a year has gone by since McCarthy’s move south from Hamilton Academical to the DW Stadium in 2009 without some feverish speculation pertaining to his immediate future being splashed across the back pages — especially the Irish ones.
Thus far, however, none of the big guns who have supposedly had him in their sights have actually squeezed the transfer trigger.
But now, on the back of Wigan’s relegation — and with it the expectation that manager Roberto Martinez will be enticed to pastures new — the clamour surrounding the player’s future is louder than ever. A cursory glance at the headlines over the last few days and weeks would suggest he is set to be inundated with offers: we have been variously informed that Arsenal and Chelsea “will lead the race” for his signature; that Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is “weighing up an ambitious move”; that Spurs are “considering a €10 million bid”; and even in the days leading up to Wigan’s memorable Wembley triumph, that the player was reportedly “trying to ignore speculation surrounding a move to Manchester United” — as well he might, with an FA Cup final still to come at that delicate point.
And, of course, the bookies, as ever, are anxious to cover all bases: if you’re so inclined, you can currently get 40/1 on the Glasgow boy going to Barcelona.
Remember where you read it first.
A reality check might be in order: while it’s reasonably safe to assume that McCarthy will be a Premier League player again next season, whichever club does acquire his services will be landing a work in progress rather than the finished article. Having installed McCarthy as a regular in his side since the start of the current World Cup qualifying campaign, it should be self-evident that Giovanni Trapattoni is an admirer, yet the manager has still managed to ship some criticism for, essentially, failing to add his voice with sufficient vigour to the strident claims that McCarthy is, already, and at just 22, some class of midfield messiah.
Earlier this week, it’s true, Trapattoni was predicting that the player could become as influential as Michael Carrick or Steven Gerrard, a comparison of contrasts which left at least some of us rather fervently hoping it will turn out to be the latter rather than the former. Yet, for all his qualities as a positionally aware ball-winner and confident passer, I have to confess I’ve seen little enough evidence so far that McCarthy can exert anything like as dynamic or transformative an influence on a game as the Liverpool man.
Part of that is undoubtedly circumstantial. At forever embattled Wigan, McCarthy has been obliged to do much of his best work in the midfield trenches, acting as a necessary screen for a woefully porous defence. That the task can be thankless was evident enough in those phases of the game at the Emirates on Tuesday night when Arsenal were threatening to run riot — before they finally did.
With his team under pressure, the bulk of McCarthy’s movement — and passing — was side to side rather than forward. But when Wigan were able to gain the initiative, you could see glimpses of what he has to offer as a constructive force, especially on the few occasions when he surged forward to win the ball and was able to act as a springboard for the attack.
At international level, you could argue Trapattoni’s conservative game-plan hardly does McCarthy any favours in terms of freedom of expression but, even so, my own opinion is that the player has yet to exert a real sense of authority in the green shirt.
This is probably what Trapattoni is getting at when he repeatedly insists on referring to him as “a little bit shy”.
No-one could deny that, at just 22, McCarthy plays his football with uncommon composure and maturity but I am still waiting for the day when he really starts to take games by the scruff of the neck.
In England, a move to a bigger club, playing with better players, would undoubtedly help. The softly-spoken Glaswegian has never sounded anything but sincere when he has lavished praise on the management style of Martinez but, after perhaps too long a period fighting fires at Wigan, it’s time for James McCarthy to light a few big ones himself.
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