Stephen Kenny confirms England approach for U21 striker Tom ...
Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny has admitted that England have made an approach for talented Under 21 striker Tom Cannon.
The Irish boss confirmed that the young forward is taking time out to reflect on his international future after being approached by England underage boss, and former Ireland international, Lee Carsley.
Cannon is now back with Everton after spending the season on loan with Preston North End where he made a huge impression, scoring eight league goals in 20 games.
The Liverpool native qualifies for Ireland through his grandparents and has represented the Boys in Green at U19, U20 and U21 level, scoring for the latter on his debut at Turner's Cross back in March.
Republic of Ireland's Tom Cannon trying to go past Iceland's goalkeeper.But Ireland fans are now fearing history could be about to repeat itself following Declan Rice and Jack Grealish's decisions to switch allegiances from Ireland to England.
Speaking ahead of Friday's Euro 2024 qualifier in Athens against Greece, which Cannon was ruled out of selection for due to illness, Kenny began by saying "It’s better to be honest about these things.
He continued; "I saw the story breaking about Tom in one of the English papers. Tom hasn’t said anything to me about that.
"Now obviously he had tonsillitis and pulled out of the camp and it sort of made it difficult selecting him because he hadn’t been doing training, he hadn’t been doing the programmes that we had set.
"He has a good attitude and is a good lad but I have spoken to his agent subsequently, before the Under-21s were selected.
"His agent is Kenny Moyes who is David Moyes’ brother and he just said 'let’s get this camp out of the way and we’ll come and meet you and have a chat’.
"He (Kenny Moyes) said ‘Obviously England under-21s have made an approach’ and he just needed a bit of time to reflect and see what the situation was and wanted to speak to me after the camp, sit down and have a conversation.
"He said that he just needed time to breathe and see what the situation was. It is what it is. He still has a lot of improving to do but he seems a good lad.
"I actually don’t know him that well because he’s not been in our system that long. Obviously I’ve had a few conversations with him. But we’re happy with the strike force we have."
