Soccer

Sammie Szmodics: ‘I am fully focused on playing for Ireland’

Blackburn Rovers player describes comments by Hungary manager Marco Rossi as ‘all nonsense really’

Sammie Szmodics during an Ireland press conference at the FAI National Training Centre in Abbotstown. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

Gavin Cummiskey
Tue Mar 19 2024 - 15:18

The “z” is silent in Szmodics. On recent comments made by Hungary manager Marco Rossi, the Blackburn Rovers number 10 has plenty to say.

Rossi got stuck into Sammie Szmodics last week, claiming that the 28-year-old or his representative used a conversation about linking up with the Magyars ahead of Euro 2024 to get selected by the Republic of Ireland.

“It was all nonsense really,” said the uncapped midfielder. “My grandad was Hungarian, that’s where the surname comes from, but it is just something that never interested me.

“[Rossi] has come out and said what he has said about me. I am not really sure where it come from as I have never spoken to anyone from that country. I am fully focused on playing for Ireland.”

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Rossi, who brings his Hungarian squad to Dublin on June 4th, said: “In Szmodics’s case, it was very unpleasant to know who could tell the Irish media about his invitation, after I inquired with him about whether he would be included in the Hungarian national team. [It was] either him or his manager.

“And for what purpose? To be invited to the Irish national team? We don’t need such a person, even if he is a technically good player.”

[ Sammie Szmodics: ‘Things that have happened in the past are in the past’ ]

Speaking after Ireland training in Abbotstown ahead of Saturday’s friendly against Belgium, Szmodics denied having a conversation with the Hungarian FA or Rossi, stating that he wanted to play for Ireland ever since signing with “new agents” and they discovered a connection to the old sod via his grandmother, Annette Hyne who came from Longford.

“It took a while, two or three years to sort out the passport, the birth and death certificates,” he said. “That’s all in the past now, it’s all sorted, I have my Irish passport, leaving camps, not being called up to camps, I am fully focused now on this camp and beyond.”

So, Hungary was a non-starter?

“No it was never really a decision, it all came out of nowhere really, [Rossi] said I used that as a ploy to get in this squad, which is not what happened at all. It’s nothing I’ve ever heard of, I’ve not spoken to anyone from there, and I sort of wanted to ... squash it.

“People read things on Twitter, it wasn’t even a decision, it’s nothing that entered my brain. I’m fully focused on getting into the camps and getting into the squads and hopefully I’ll do it this weekend.”

Frustrating? “Yeah, it is frustrating because [Rossi] doesn’t know me, he doesn’t know them things to say about me and especially after not even speaking to anyone, it just came out of the blue. I’m fully focused on Ireland and background noise, people can write things on Twitter and say things on Twitter but until your hear it from myself, you know that’s all nonsense.”

Despite scoring for fun in the English Championship, with 27 goals across all competitions this season, Szmodics went uncapped under Stephen Kenny, with two international call-ups since 2021 ending prematurely due to injury and a family issue back in England.

Rovers are perilously close to relegation from the Championship and while a recent change of manager saw former Irish coach John Eustace replace Jon Dahl Tomasson, it did not disrupt Szmodics’s sensational run, but Andy Moran did lose his place in the team.

“Andy is a really good technical footballer,” said Szmodics. “It was tough at Blackburn because the old manager had a certain style of play that I had to get used to and a young lad like Andy, coming from Brighton, had to do the same. He struggled a little bit under the new manager, but you forget how young he is and how much of a big talent he is going to be. I tip him to play in the Premier League and I tip him to win many more caps for Ireland.”

Gavin Cummiskey

Gavin Cummiskey

Gavin Cummiskey is The Irish Times' Soccer Correspondent

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