Ronald Koeman is set to be at war with Martin O’Neill again after James McCarthy was called up to the latest Republic of Ireland squad.
The Everton midfielder has been included in his country’s provisional 35-man team for the forthcoming World Cup qualifier with Austria next Saturday.
But Ireland’s recent handling of McCarthy has angered Koeman after he was forced to start successive games against Georgia and Moldova last month.
That culminated in the Blues manager accusing O’Neill of leaving the 25-year-old ‘massively over-loaded’, a statement which was vindicated by another injury.
McCarthy has not featured for Everton since appearing in the 1-1 draw with Manchester City and subsequently suffered a hamstring problem in training.
Koeman warned last week that the player required a spell of two weeks’ recovery and return to full training but those words have not been heeded.