Troy Parrott flying the coop 'brilliant' and fits into Heimir Hallgrimsson's horizons - David McMillan

Heimir Hallgrimsson's first target as Republic of Ireland manager will be to try and get a result against Euro 2024 runners-up England when the UEFA Nations League campaign gets underway in September.

The Iceland native has form for shocking the Three Lions from his time as joint-manager of his country back at Euro 2016.

But another aim for Hallgrimsson is for his Ireland players to look beyond England - not the national team of course but its league pyramid.

In his interview with RTÉ Sport's Dave Kelly ahead of his unveiling last Thursday, he revealed a desire to see more Boys in Green players make the leap towards the continent at club level.

While there have always been a smattering of Irish players at clubs across Europe, the vast majority of exports end up in England and Scotland, although the impact of Brexit for those under 18 has seen an increase in youngsters heading to countries like Italy and Germany among others.

Hallgrimsson would certainly have been happy to see Ireland senior striker Troy Parrott sign for Dutch side AZ Alkmaar at the weekend.

Having endured mixed fortunes on loan from Tottenham in the English lower divisions, the Dubliner had thrived in the Netherlands on loan at Excelsior last season which led to numerous links with a stay at one of the more high-profile clubs, a fate that has now been confirmed.

Citing the example of Irish teenagers at German top flight side Hoffenheim, as highlighted by Dan McDonnell in the Irish Independent recently, former Dundalk striker David McMillan extolled the positives of broadening horizons on this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast.

"It was interesting to see their life over there and making that move (to Germany) with not being able to move to England easily at that age," he