McClean’s move driven by desire for ‘a clean slate’

James McClean says that Paolo Di Canio wanted him to stay at Sunderland but his own desire for regular football and what he calls “a clean slate” lay behind his transfer to Wigan Athletic.

Speaking after the Irish squad trained in Newport yesterday, McClean said: “It was coming for a while. I know it’s been said that Sunderland got rid of me, that they wanted to sell me, but that’s not actually the case.

“Last season, as soon as we got safe, I went in to see the manager, sat down and told him I wanted to leave and the reasons why. And, fair play to him, he understood and they didn’t stand in my way.