James McCarthy won’t play for Ireland in March, but may move to Liverpool or Chelsea

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez has revealed that James McCarthy will not answer Trapattoni's call up, but reports hint he may move to a bigger Premier League club.

Roberto Martinez has said that his in-demand midfielder James McCarthy will don a green shirt and play for Ireland in the Euro 2012 qualifier against Macedonia.

Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has made clear his intention to call up the Wigan man for the crucial game, despite McCarthy pulling out of last week’s game against Wales citing tiredness.

McCarthy is eligible to play for both Ireland and Scotland at an international level, with his Scottish team-mates at Wigan, James McArthur and Gary Caldwell, believed to be keen to get him to declare for Scotland.

Given the importance of the Macedonia game, and although it looks like it’s time for James to shit or get off the pot, the 20-year-old appears to still be suffering from a bad case of constipation.

And according to Lactics boss Martinez, we shouldn’t expect a movement until the end of the season.

“At the moment he doesn’t feel ready to make a decision on his international career,” Martinez says.

“To represent a country it has to be a feeling, a passion and that’s something he needs to find inside himself.

“We need to allow him to have time to think what is his real feeling about representing the right country. We always said that until the summer he is not going to think about international football and the country he is going to represent is going to be a very fortunate nation.”

Meanwhile, in the Irish News of the World it is reported that McCarthy is set for a move in the summer... from Wigan to either Liverpool or Chelsea.

It is claimed that Chelsea scouting team have watched his last four Wigan appearances and that Carlo Ancellotti wants him to join him in London at the end of the current season.

The Reds have also been monitoring him since he was  15 and are willing to spend €8 million on him, although Wigan are holding out for somewhere nearer €12 million.