With Atherton used as the ‘poster boy’ for the Euro 2028 campaign, this announcement could be considered a big blow for Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland have made huge strides in progressing their youth players with the JD Academy, but how much can they afford to lose some of the young prospects who looked like they would push through into the senior set-up?
Now, without Atherton, Northern Ireland have players such as Ceadach O’Neill at Arsenal, Michael Forbes, who is on loan from West Ham at Northampton, and George Feeney at Tottenham, across the water.
Atherton may try to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Sean Moore, who switched to the Republic of Ireland and has featured at under-21 level after playing for Northern Ireland U18s.
James McClean, Shane Duffy and Darron Gibson all went on to establish themselves with the Republic of Ireland after switching from Northern Ireland.
Atherton’s fellow Glenavon product Mark Sykes made the same move, albeit he had two senior call-ups for Michael O’Neill’s side at the time.
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