James McClean: Stoke City player doubtful for Republic of Ireland's opening World Cup qualifiers
- Published
James McClean played in six Republic of Ireland games in the autumn
Stoke City winger James McClean is doubtful for the Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Luxembourg because of a foot injury.
Stoke and McClean had been managing the injury with the 31-year-old playing despite having pain for some time.
He has missed the club's last couple of games and is wearing a protective boot.
"James has had an injection on a foot injury so the time frame for him is four to six weeks," said Stoke City manager Michael O'Neill.
"He has been playing with this [foot] injury for a number of months," added the former Northern Ireland boss on Saturday.
McClean featured in six of the Republic of Ireland's games in the autumn, starting three of them, but was sent-off against Wales.
He would have been likely to play some part in the two opening fixtures of the new campaign.
Republic manager Stephen Kenny is already likely to be without McClean's Stoke City team mate, defender Nathan Collins and Sheffield United defender John Egan.
Kenny's side start their campaign with an away clash against Serbia on 24 March, followed by a game against Luxembourg at the Aviva Stadium three days later.