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18th December 2024
03:30pm GMT
Ireland have a history of poaching players from our Scottish neighbours, with the likes of Ray Houghton, Aiden McGeady, and James McCarthy all opting to tog out for the Boys in Green.
19-year-old Rocco Vata is another who, thus far, has opted wear the green jersey, although there is still time for him to do a U-turn and play for the country of his birth.
The former Celtic man has been in the underage ranks with Ireland and shone for the Republic of Ireland U21s this year, as they narrowly missed out on European Championship qualification.
Vata made the switch from Celtic to Watford at the start of this season and has impressed so far for the side sitting seventh in the Championship.
After his first home start in their 2-1 over West Brom on Sunday, teammate and Scottish international Ryan Porteous - who previously played against Vata for Hibs - spoke highly of him and admitted that he will try and tempt him to line out for the Scots.
Given Scotland's success in recent years and Ireland's dire straits, it would be a desirable offer.
Porteous said: "I think I might have played against him in his debut actually.
"I spoke to a lot of people in Scotland before he came here and I was aware he was a top player.
"He’s still very young and not played a lot of first-team games, but he’s one of those players who will get fans off their seats.
"Give him the ball and he comes alive.
"It’s refreshing to see someone that’s like that, and he’s probably the winger that Scotland could probably do with.
"I’m not sure if he has completely chosen Ireland yet – I’ve not had that conversation with him but I’m going to!
"If he keeps playing as the way he is now for the next couple of years then I reckon there’s a left winger space in the Scotland team if he wants it!"
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