We’ve already mentioned that Robbie Brady has inherited the Republic of Ireland number 10 shirt in the wake of Robbie Keane’s retirement, fearing that he might wear it at left-back.
An upcoming international week – Ireland host Georgia and then travel to Moldova – brings about that possibility again, but Brady’s presence at a press conference on Monday allowed him to reveal how he actually ended up moving from 19 to 10, as reported in The Irish Examiner.
There was a few of us wanting it. Me and Jonny Walters were the last two and he sort of said, ‘You have it’. I said, ‘No, it wouldn’t be fair’. So we flipped a coin for it and I ended up getting it. I texted Rob to say, ‘I’m taking it over and I’ll try not to dirty it too much’.
He said, ‘All you have to do is score 69 goals!’. Nah, he’s a top man. I just thought it was an opportunity not to be missed and I want to do as much as I can for this country. It’s near enough impossible to do what Robbie has done but I’ll do as best as I can.
Throughout the ages of my Ireland career I’ve scored goals, I like scoring goals. I want to score as many goals as I can for Ireland but I don’t think a number on a jersey will make a difference.
Having worn 14 for much of the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign and the finals tournament, Walters then took advantage of Brady’s switch to move to the vacant 19 – which he used briefly in 2014 for his country and which he also wears for Stoke. So everybody’s happy.
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