Clark Turning From England To Rep Of Ireland

Villa's young defender Ciaran Clark has switched from being England U20 captain to pledge his allegiance to the Republic of Ireland. He qualifies due to his Irish mother and grandparents.

Richard Dunne has told avfc.co.uk that it is his fault after he had a word with 'Clarky' (blimey, Dunne is as bad as Mike Field with his Albie, Clarkie, etc!)

Dunne said;

'I went straight onto our recruitment guy and he's been in touch. It's great. I think he has declared so once it goes through it will be great to have him in the squad. He's certainly going to be a top player. I think for Ireland it'll be outstanding, to have a young player of his talent in the squad. He's absolutely brilliant. It's just a matter of time before he breaks through and commands a position instead of someone older than Clarky playing all the time.'

He also says in the interview (full quotes avfc.co.uk ) that it would be 'great to play alongside Clarky for Ireland. We've got a couple of young centre halves coming through and I think with Ciaran added to that it will just make the squad so much stronger. Sometimes you get to a point where you can't see any more players coming through for Ireland. So if you can get players like Clarky playing, other people in a similar situation to him might decide to follow him and play for Ireland.'

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