Best won’t give up

Leon Best has vowed to fight for a place in the Republic of Ireland squad for the Euro 2012 finals despite his Newcastle United manager writing the striker’s season off.

Alan Pardew claimed Best’s medial ligament injury suffered last weekend makes his chances of recovering in time for the June finals extremely remote.

However, the Irish forward insists he’ll work hard on his rehabilitation in order to boost the chances of him making the 23-man cut for the squad that represents Ireland in June at the finals in Poland and Ukraine.

“I’ve not giving up on the going to the Euros, no way,” Best emphasised.

“The next few weeks are about working hard on my recovery but the doctors feel that I might be back within eight weeks if all goes well.

“That doesn’t leave with much time before the squad is named but I will still try to impress the Ireland manager and push for making the squad.”