Kasey McAteer's badge of honour to represent Republic of Ireland

Kasey McAteer's late uncle Joe will never get to see his nephew pull on the green Ireland jersey, however, the new recruit will have plenty of family support in the stands should he make his debut against England on Saturday.

The Leicester City attacking midfielder arrived in Dublin at the weekend for his first international camp following the completion of his paperwork and receiving FIFA clearance.

McAteer declared for the Republic – his grandparents hail from Offaly and Belfast – under the Stephen Kenny regime, however, injury and the aforementioned bureaucracy prevented him from featuring during John O’Shea’s short stint in charge of the squad.

"My late uncle Joe was a massive follower of Ireland. Everywhere he went he wore a little Irish badge and always reminded me that my blood is with Ireland."

O’Shea remains, of course, in an assistant coaching capacity, and McAteer credits the chats with the former interim manager and Kenny with making it a "no-brainer" in terms of coming to play for Ireland.

And McAteer arrives into a squad in transition following the arrival of new head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson, and it affords the lively Leicester man the chance to come straight into the selection with a strong possibility of making his international debut over the course of the upcoming Dublin double-header.

"It took a while to get things sorted, to get my Irish passport, but I am here now and am happy to get started," said McAteer, speaking at a press conference following training on Tuesday, where Seamus Coleman and Andrew Omobamidele sat out of the session.

"I felt like I was wanted here from the chats I had with John O’Shea and before that Stephen Kenny. I wanted to get started as soon as possible. It was sort of a no-brainer