MICHAEL O’Neill, the Northern Ireland manager, today revealed that Ross McCausland, the Rangers winger, has “played with pain” since suffering a “complex” injury against Hibernian and will not be involved in the international friendly against Scotland at Hampden tomorrow evening.
However, O’Neill has stressed the problem is not serious and expressed confidence the youngster, who has not featured since the Scottish Cup win over Hibs at Easter Road earlier this month, will be able to contribute to the Ibrox giant’s push to complete a world record-equalling eighth domestic treble when club football resumes after the international break.
The former Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hibs and St Johnstone player admitted that he had spoken to Philippe Clement about McCausland's condition and had decided not to risk the 20-year-old, who won his first full international cap back in November, in his country’s matches against either Romania or Scotland.
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“I don’t think it’s particularly serious,” he said. “It’s a little bit complex from my understanding from the medical team. He was optimistic, but he has played with pain since he had the initial challenge and the injury.
“I spoke to Philippe Clement and they had him on the bench against Benfica, but I don’t think that realistically they intended to use him in that situation.
“He has got a lot to play for between now and the end of the season. We are conscious of that. So we don’t want to put him in a situation where we are bringing him off the bench and he is uncomfortable in that way.
“We just hope that he recovers quickly because the most important thing is that Ross is playing for Rangers and playing regularly because then we have got another player who is playing at a level where obviously we get a lot from that player playing on the international stage.”
“He has been a real find for us Ross,” he said. “He kind of jumped the queue a little bit. In our under-21s we had other young players who we thought had a chance. In one of our under-21 games earlier in the season Ross was on the bench.
“Any young player needs to be given a chance and Ross is the perfect example of a young player who grasped the chance that he was given. He probably owes Steve a little bit of gratitude for that because it came in the two games where Steve was the interim manager.
“But the most important thing was when the new manager came in he not only kept him around he played him consistently and played him in big games. So I have seen a number of those games. We always knew there was a good player in there, but you have got to get them on the pitch and in that first team environment."
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O'Neill added: “He has got a real calmness about his play, a real assurance about his play, he is a good decision maker on the ball and is involved in a lot of the Rangers goals – if it is not the assist it is the pass before the assist. We are delighted. He is probably a player we didn’t think we would have for another couple of years if I am honest.
“You always worry about those lads and whether they will get the chance to break through at a big club like Rangers. It is the next phase of their career which is maybe the most challenging one, they maybe have to go and built their career elsewhere.
“We have had a number of young lads who have been at Rangers who have maybe gone through that journey and it has maybe not gone so well as we would have hoped as an association. So what Ross is doing is fantastic. Hopefully he finish the season strong and we will get the chance to get him back involved in June.”
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