McCarthy follows McGeady and opts for Ireland over Scotland

The Hamilton Academical teenager is currently occupying the thoughts of some very celebrated football brains. The pity is that the determination to recruit him displayed by Benitez, not to mention rivals at Chelsea, Celtic, Rangers and Reading, has not been shared by the relevant people at the SFA. A bidding war has broken out for the red-headed attacking midfielder. Liverpool and Steve Coppell's Reading have lodged official bids, thought to amount to between 130,000 and 160,000, while Chelsea director of football Frank Arnesen has invited him to a trial at Stamford Bridge next week. Both sides of the Old Firm, as ever, feature prominently in the equation.

McCarthy, 16, will make his international debut later this month - for Republic of Ireland under-17s. This in spite of the fact he has been watched repeatedly by Archie Knox and Ross Mathie, the men at the apex of Scotland's youth team pyramid.

On Tuesday, Mathie unveiled an under-17 squad to travel to Malta next week. Staff at Hamilton were surprised that the name McCarthy was nowhere to be seen. Almost simultaneously, the Football Association of Ireland named their own under-17 party to face Italy, with coach Sean McCaffrey waxing lyrical about the promise of his newest acquisition. So where and when was this outstanding prospect, like Aiden McGeady before him, lost across the Irish Sea? Born in Glasgow, McCarthy's only familial link to the Emerald Isle is a grandfather from Donegal.

Mathie made a fist yesterday of trying to explain why no verbal contact was ever made to underline how pleased the SFA would be to usher this prodigious gem into the fold. He claimed that McCaffrey had already beaten him to it several months ago, and it would not have been in keeping with the SFA's modus operandi to try to bully a player into a U-turn.

"He has not slipped through the net; we knew of James and we watched him on numerous occasions. But he has had an offer to play for the Republic of Ireland and has taken it.

"Aiden McGeady made the same decision to go to the Republic and, at the end of the day, I have watched him several times, Archie Knox has watched him about four times and we have had weekly reports.

"He has been progressing very well, with a lot of publicity surrounding him. At recent Hamilton games you could have picked out 20 or 30 known football people who were there to watch James.

"It's always disappointing when someone chooses not to play for Scotland, but sometimes they go the other way. We knew of his Irish heritage and I spoke to Sean McCaffrey at a European draw recently. He said he had already offered James a place in the squad to face Italy, which he had accepted.

"We didn't have any games coming up at the time that we could offer to play him in, with our season finishing in September. Not long after that, the Irish came in with their offer.

"The young man has made the decision in consultation with his family at the time he got the opportunity. I must make it clear that there was no formal offer from us. We wouldn't go down that road."

Mathie said all was not lost, though, as players have until the age of 21 to make a permanent decision of allegiance.

"We are always happy to see young players progressing internationally. People might say that's a sad thing to say when they are not playing for Scotland, but this was his first opportunity and he took it," Mathie said. "I might get a lot of stick because we haven't selected him, but that's just an opinion and football is all about opinions. I would always say, to any young player, all the very best with the choices you make."

Last Saturday McCarthy became Hamilton's youngest Scottish Cup goalscorer when he netted a consolation in the 4-2 loss to Livingston, his seventh starting appearance this season.

"He is certainly the best young player I have seen at this club since Paul Hartley, who brought in our record transfer fee when he was sold to Millwall," said club secretary Scott Struthers.