Euro 2024 qualifiers: 'Won't get any easier' - Michael O'Neill assesses NI's Premier League plight

Stuart Dallas missed the entire Premier League season as Leeds United got relegated

When Michael O'Neill was plotting a route to qualification for the Euro 2016 finals, he had a solid core of Premier League regulars at his disposal.

Captain Steven Davis at Southampton, and the West Brom trio of Jonny Evans, Chris Brunt and Gareth McAuley, as well as Craig Cathcart at newly promoted Watford, were all mainstays of their teams.

In addition, Chris Baird also had a season at The Hawthorns, Aaron Hughes had played in the Premier League for more than 15 years until 2014 and Paddy McNair was starting to make first-team inroads at Manchester United during 2015.

Fast forward seven years, and the profile of the Northern Ireland squad that O'Neill has inherited for his second stint in charge is very different. And the ever-diminishing number of Premier League players was brought into sharp focus by the now-out-of-contract Jonny Evans' Leicester City and Stuart Dallas' Leeds United getting relegated.

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Bailey Peacock-Farrell just got promoted with Burnley but was their back-up keeper for most of last season, while Newcastle United left-back Jamal Lewis made just two substitute appearances in the league during 2022-23.

There's great hope for Liverpool's Conor Bradley and Manchester City's Shea Charles, but both hugely talented teenagers could still be some way off becoming Premier League regulars, while other younger squad members at top-flight clubs are yet to feature for their first teams.

O'Neill, six months into his second spell as Northern Ireland manager, was philosophical about the situation, while also sounding a note of caution.

"I don't think it is getting any easier for young players and I don't think going forward that is it going to get any easier, either, wherever they come from in the UK," he said before Friday's Euro 2024 qualifier against Denmark in Copenhagen.

"It might be a few years before we have got eight or nine players in the Premier League. We might not have, but I still believe we have got the makings of a good team."

He added: "I don't think it matters so much in terms of the general feeling around the squad. Like any manager, you want your players playing at the highest level.

"At this minute in time, we are somewhat challenged by that. It does go through phases and I think the only thing we can do about that is try to develop the younger players so that they have the possibility to take that route into the Premier League."

Price at Everton a good example of challenges

Isaac Price made the move from Everton to Standard Liege last week

The former Stoke City manager cited the case of 19-year-old midfielder Isaac Price. O'Neill gave him a senior international debut in March and he has just moved to Standard Liege in Belgium from Everton, where he made two Premier League substitute appearances.

"We have got a number of young players at good clubs and whether they can take the next step will be a little bit down to how they approach it and probably where the clubs see them in the grand scheme of things," he continued.

"Those young players also have to deal with a lot of churn. The churn of managers all the time isn't easy.

"I think Isaac is a good example of that, where he was around the team at Everton a lot more when Frank Lampard was in charge possibly than when Sean Dyche was in charge.

"The team was in a different place and the job for Sean Dyche was to keep the club in the Premier League, so there are always situations that are outwith the players' control and obviously outwith our control.

"All we can do is try to push them as much as we can. Sometimes I think if we select them early at international level it does helm them, it helps their profile and people see them as an international player."

Next step 'an interesting one' for Man City's Charles

City's Shea Charles has won four Northern Ireland caps

City midfielder Charles, 19, has made a major impact in midfield for Northern Ireland, winning six caps since making his debut in the Nations League last summer, and reached another career milestone by coming off the bench for his Premier League debut on the final day of the season.

Clearly enthusiastic about his potential, O'Neill started him in both of his first two matches back in March and will be looking on with interest to see the next path his career goes down.

"It's a difficult one because you can see the talent that Man City have under their first team," O'Neill said.

"Shea's next step will be an interesting one but City are brilliant at handling their young players; I don't think there is a club that does it better. I suppose that will be a decision for them, where they see him [Charles] in their pathway as a team.

"Look, he is trying to get into the best team in the world so that is an ominous challenge for any young player. Sometimes they go away to play and come back, whether that is through the loan system but what Shea did show in the two games for us is a maturity and a quality of play which demonstrates why he is at that level of club.

"He has been training with the [Manchester City] first team for this past month, which is good because it is very difficult to replicate that level of player he is training with. His brain will be sharp from the training and he can build on what he gave us in the games in March. "