Spurs teen Mason Melia to be promoted to Ireland senior squad

Mason Melia is to win his first Ireland senior call-up next week. Pic; ©INPHO/Bryan Keane.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Mason Melia is to win his first Ireland senior call-up next week but his fellow million euro kid Victor Ozhianvuna will have to wait for his fast-tracking.

Melia officially joined Spurs in January after his €1.8m transfer from St Patrick’s Athletic set a new League of Ireland fee record.

Injuries had delayed his impact at the Premier League club but the 18-year-old has featured since scoring on his U21 debut against West Ham United last month.

Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson will lead a team primarily of fringe players into Saturday’s friendly against Grenada in Murcia (5pm) before naming Melia in a stronger squad for the next two warm-up matches, at home to Qatar on May 28 and away to Canada on June 5.

The knee injury recently sustained by Celtic’s Johnny Kenny that ended his loan spell at Bolton Wanderers created the vacancy and given Hibernian forward Owen Elding is still awaiting his citizenship, Melia gets the nod.

“Mason is in the next camp,” confirmed the Ireland boss in Spain on Friday about the Ireland U21 international.

“I have to be honest, I haven’t seen him play for Tottenham’s U21s in their last games, but our U21 manager Jim Crawford has.

“Obviously I saw him last season in Europe for St Pat’s and he played really well there.

“He has the qualities that we are looking for in a sense of his running behind, he’s a hard working kid, he will fight for every scrap.

“All of those things he has we saw last year in the LOI and Europe.

“Hopefully he will get a run of club games and start pre-season well, hopefully at Tottenham and hopefully they will still be in the Premiership.”

Despite Stephen Bradley leading calls for his 17-year-old midfielder Ozhianvuna to be promoted through the age-groups to senior, the probability is for him to be called into the U21s for a double-header of friendlies in Croatia.

The classy midfielder, due to join Arsenal next January for €2m, has shone as a first-choice for league leaders Shamrock Rovers but the Icelander feels he’s sufficiently stocked in that department.

“We are not looking for a midfielder,” he said when asked why the teen was overlooked for Dundee United’s Will Ferry with a late call-up for the Spanish camp.

“We have Conor Coventry, we have Molumby, we have Rory Finneran, Andy Moran and Jason Knight, so we didn’t need a midfielder.”

Finneran’s inclusion has caused parallels with Declan Rice. The Newcastle United teen has been courted by England and the fear is that the FAI could eventually lose him to his homeland, like they did in the cases of Arsenal’s powerhouse Rice and Jack Grealish.

Early fast-tracking of the Newcastle United rising star is part of a plan to ensure he feels valued and comfortable in the Ireland system.

"It is a little bit of everything probably,” said Hallgrímsson, who extended his contract recently for the Euro 2028 campaign.

“We think he is the one to be looked at in a camp like this, like Jaden Umeh who we wanted but Benfica wouldn’t release.

“It’s just to see where they are and if we can help them to take the next step a bit quicker.

"That is selfish thinking but it is beneficial as well. Maybe it brings their attention to their club manager; maybe he will play them earlier than otherwise.

"But the warning is there for sure for high potential players."

He added: "At least we need to be more strategic in how we see the future. For me, as a first team coach, you tend to think short term.

"I need to win the game tomorrow. Instead of thinking four, five years ahead. All of these camps and the January camp should be about thinking long term.

"That is why it is fantastic to have this opportunity here. To see these players. It is a different way of thinking. We should always think long term but when we play a competitive game we can only think of results."

It’s understood five League of Ireland players, including Cork City goalkeeper Conor Brann and Shamrock Rovers midfielder Matt Healy, are in the provisional squad that will be pared down to 24 on Sunday ahead of them reporting for duty on May 18.