Northern Ireland and Blackburn boss Michael O'Neill responds to theories about minutes in friendly ahead of run-in

Northern Ireland and Blackburn boss Michael O’Neill says the nation will not be “reckless” with players’ minutes ahead of crucial end-of-season club fixtures.

The line of questioning came after theories of potential conflicts of interest with club football ahead of Northern Ireland’s friendly against Wales in Cardiff on Tuesday night.

Both Northern Ireland and Wales were defeated in World Cup play-off action late last week, against Italy and Bosnia-Herzegovina respectively.

Albion’s Isaac Price is an influential member of Northern Ireland’s squad and a key player at club level for James Morrison’s resurgent Albion, who are battling Championship relegation against O’Neill’s Blackburn among others. The two meet at a crunch clash at Ewood Park next Monday.

With Albion fans curious at how much minutes Price will be exposed to in a relatively meaningless friendly, O’Neill said: "We're not in charge of the schedule of the games for either the international window or the EFL. I think 80 per cent of my squad play in the EFL.

"We're mindful of the situation for the clubs, of course, but when the clubs signed these players, they knew they were international players and, we're not going to be reckless with the players or anything like that there, but, we have to obviously look after ourselves as a group of players.”

O’Neill, who is on a deal at Blackburn until the end of the season, added that EFL players are robust and will be able to come through what is asked of them.

Four members of the Northern Ireland squad returned to their clubs following the World Cup play-off defeat.

"The most important thing is that the players just go out and play the game,” added the national boss, who has two years on his contract in that role.

“They'll be fine. The lads who play in the EFL, they play a lot of football and they're used to playing regular football. So they've got resilience and I'm sure they'll get through the game fine."

Blackburn, in 19th, are currently one place above Albion on goal difference in the second tier ahead of Good Friday’s return to league action. The Baggies are four points clear of the drop.

Price, 22, started the season well but struggled for form across much of the campaign.

He has emerged in recent weeks under the guidance of Morrison, who has used the former Everton youngster from the left flank and Price has been influential in his side’s upturn in form. No Championship player created more goalscoring opportunities than Price and Ipswich left-back Leif Davis, with 12, through the month of March.

Albion keep close tabs on all players at international level across age groups. Potential international action on Tuesday could also see Jayson Molumby (Republic of Ireland), Ousmane Diakite (Mali) and Wales under-21 duo Ollie Bostock and Alex Williams feature.