Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill will be leading a training camp for Northern Ireland Under-21 players in Belfast next week.
O’Neill is set to be joined by Northern Ireland assistant manager Jimmy Nicholl at the five-day camp.
The Northern Ireland boss said today: “I am looking forward to this camp. It gives me an opportunity to see first hand the progress of some of our younger players.
“The scheduling of senior men’s and Under-21 camps ordinarily clashes so I’ll get an unfiltered view of these players over nearly a week.
“We already have four players, Trai Hume, Shea Charles, Isaac Price and Conor Bradley, in our senior squad who are Under-21 level. This demonstrates that the pathway is there and it is something our younger group can aspire to.”
O’Neill is aiming to have 25 players at the camp. They are due to meet up in Belfast on Sunday evening and will be on the training pitch from Monday to Friday.
The next competitive fixtures for the U21s will be in September when they begin their UEFA U21 Euro 2025 qualification campaign.
They will be competing in Group F for the qualifying series along with top seeds England, Ukraine, Serbia, Azerbaijan and Luxembourg.
Their first match of the campaign will be against sixth seeds Luxembourg at home on Thursday 7 September (venue TBC), while game two will see them come up against second seeds Ukraine away on Tuesday 12 September.
