Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny has admitted that James McClean's move to League Two is "not ideal" when it comes to his international prospects in the longer-term.
Earlier in August, the Republic of Ireland centurion joined Wrexham, who were promoted to the English fourth tier for this season.
The Welsh club has seen its profile grow in recent times since being taken over by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
While the move is an exciting one for McClean on a personal level, former Republic of Ireland international Keith Treacy had told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast that playing at League Two level was "probably not good enough to get into the Irish team" in the longer-term.
McClean has been included in Kenny's squad for next week's Euro 2024 qualifiers against France and the Netherlands having recovered in time from injury.
The Ireland manager said the Derry native did keep him abreast of his plans for life after Wigan before making the Wrexham move.
"In the long-term it's not ideal," Kenny said of the fact that the 34-year-old will be plying his trade on the lowest rung of the Football League pyramid.
"He did speak to me. He said in his club situation (that) he was in a predicament and he needed to move and this is what he had accepted.
"In the long-term it's not ideal"
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) August 31, 2023
Stephen Kenny discusses James McClean playing League Two football this season after signing for Wrexham #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/vbDah4Jerz
"Ultimately, he got Man of the Match, albeit against Gibraltar, in the last game so he had performed well in the last window and he was going to be playing.
"Whether he was going to be playing three or four games in League One or three or four games in League Two, I didn't think was a significant difference in the short-term for this window.
"Subsequently, he has been injured and played the other night (against Bradford in the Carabao Cup). We have named three left wing-backs, so we'll see."
Joining McClean in contention for the left wing-back slot in the latest Ireland squad will be Enda Stevens and in-form Ryan Manning, who are both in the Championship with Stoke and Southampton respectively.
The latter weighed in with two assists in his last outing for the Saints, who he joined from Swansea in the summer.
"He has a good relationship with his manager (Russell Martin) at Swansea who's taken him there," Kenny told RTÉ Sport of Manning.
"They have a very strong squad, Southampton, I've been to see them and they have a lot of good players.
"He's having to play in a different position really this year in that he's not really getting forward. He's building in a three so they isolate the winger one-on-one and they let the winger go one-on-one with the full-back and he doesn't support the play, so he just rotates possession.
"But he gets a lot of touches and never gives it away but he's had to adapt to that style if you like - an occasional underlap.
"So he's obviously a very good footballer. When he played with the Under-21 team previously, he had been a number 10 so he is technically a good player."
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