Richie Towell is excited to see how Republic of Ireland youth international Rory Finneran fares after being elevated into Heimir Hallgrimsson's senior squad for the Murcia training camp.
Finneran became Blackburn Rovers' youngest ever player in January 2024 after making his debut as a 15-year-old in an FA Cup tie, before Newcastle moved quickly to snap up his services.
The 18-year-old has yet to make a senior appearance for the Magpies but impressed last November whilst captaining Ireland at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Qatar.
Hallgrimsson did not call Finneran into his original 21-man squad for this week's training camp in Spain and the friendly against Grenada on Saturday.
However, he was drafted in on Friday as left back Joel Bagan and winger Kasey McAteer withdrew due to injury.
That makes him the only uncapped midfielder in Murcia, with Jayson Molumby and Jason Knight providing experience and the duo of Conor Coventry and Andrew Moran already having made their senior debuts.
"I watched a lot of Rory Finneran in the World Cup for the 17s and I thought he was excellent. There's a reason why Newcastle have gone and got him at such a young age," Towell said on this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
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"To make your debut at 15 or 16 is incredible and for Newcastle to go and get him is a big coup for them.
"For him to be added to the squad is a great addition. You obviously have the likes of Moran and Conor Coventry that's going to be in that position as well, lads who probably haven't hit the heights that they thought they would have when you see their progression from 17s to 19s to 21s. It hasn't really materialised for them.
"I like the look of this squad. It's a real youthful exuberance look of a squad. So it's going to be interesting to see, especially those midfield roles.
"Obviously you're looking at Jayson Molumby and Jason Knight and they're like the senior pros now and they're still quite young.
"It's going to be interesting to see how, not just the younger lads, but how the older lads handle that responsibility as well."
Finneran made his mark for Ireland in Qatar six months ago and Towell already feels he has many strings to his bow.
"He looks like he has a bit of everything. When I watched him playing for Ireland, I loved his maturity," he said.
"Sometimes when someone is playing in that position at a young age, you can see them getting caught out of position - like I said, a bit of youth, a bit of exuberance that they want to go and follow the game.
"But he seems to have that real know-how around the pitch about where to be at the right time and there's a reason why big clubs have gone in for him."
Meanwhile, former Ireland under-23 and Shamrock Rovers underage goalkeeper Barry Murphy had his say on Killian Cahill, the only keeper in the squad who has not previously received a senior call-up.
"He's had an interesting run of things. He signed straight from the Brighton Under-21s for Leyton Orient," he explained.
"They've done well in terms of goalkeepers, Leyton Orient. Josh (Keeley) was there as well and (Cahill) hadn't played any sort of men's football and got the number one spot in October.
"They signed (Daniel) Bachmann then who was at Watford, the Austrian international, so (Cahill) lost his place there.
"But it's a good chance for him to get in (to the Ireland picture). We obviously have strength in depth in the goalkeeping situation with (Caoimhin) Kelleher, (Gavin) Bazunu, Josh Keeley's in there, Max O'Leary... we've got some great depth.
"But I think he's got a great chance to go and prove himself in this camp. Then there's Aaron Maguire as well, the Spurs under-21 who will be floating around, so we've got really good depth."
