Northern Ireland goalscorer inspired by trophy winning teammates: ‘I want to achieve like Conor and Justin'

Belfast Telegraph

2 days ago

Bradley claimed the Premier League with Liverpool in the season just finished and Devenny was an FA Cup winner with Crystal Palace.
Such is the close knit relationships amongst Michael O'Neill's young squad there was genuine joy amongst the group seeing two of their own collecting major honours.
Ahead of Tuesday night's friendly at home to Iceland, West Brom's Price revealed the success has clearly given Bradley and Devenny a lift.
'You can see it in both players,' said Price of his fellow 21-year-olds.
'You look at Conor, he's a fantastic player. The sky's the limit for him. I've played with him since I was 15, 16 and he's been the same the whole way through.
'For a player like me, looking at him, it's something that I aspire to do.
'I want to go and achieve the things that he's achieved and he's done so much already.
'I know I want to go and achieve more. The same with Justin. He's had a very successful season and got a lot of minutes for Palace.
'I think that's the hardest thing to do as a young player is to break into a first team, especially at a Premier League club. They've both done that very well.'
Price has also performed well at club level initially starting out as a kid at Everton before moving to Standard Liege and returning to England in January to join the Baggies.
He has been even more impressive for Northern Ireland scoring eight goals having only made his debut a couple of years ago. Price revels in meeting up with the squad pointing out that during challenging times in Belgium internationals came as a 'relief' to him to be with people who were friends as well as team-mates.
While feeling ultimately that Standard Liege was a great learning experience he is happy to now be at West Brom.
'When I'm with Northern Ireland I feel settled straight away and with each game I keep feeling more confident,' he says.
'I feel like I'm going to get chances to score and it's just about putting them away.'
If he scores against Iceland, Price will move to nine international goals moving alongside icons George Best, Billy Bingham, Norman Whiteside and Gareth McAuley on the scoring charts.
I tell him that at Monday's press conference to which he responds: 'The names you've just said are legends, I don't think I'm anywhere near that, but obviously scoring goals is something that every player wants to do, it's one of the hardest things to do in football and if I got to score another goal and join them obviously it'd be an incredibly proud moment for me and my family. It would be unbelievable.'
'A lot of it's down to the manager (O'Neill) as well, he's put a lot of trust in me since the start. I've probably played a lot more games than I would if it was under another manager.'
So why has O'Neill put so much faith in Price playing him in a roving attacking role?
'I remember going to watch Isaac play in I think a European Youth League game for Everton and I just liked what I saw,' says O'Neill.
'I thought we'll bring him into the group and see. The first game was a competitive game against San Marino and I think like anything players catch your eye and Isaac caught everyone's eye in training. We felt it was right to put him on the pitch and he hasn't let us down and I think that what you get is a very adaptable player, a clever player, but athletic as well.
'I look at Isaac on the same level as any of our young players that has all the attributes to play the game at the highest level and he's doing it the right way because I think for the player to make the choice that he made to go abroad at that point in his career says a lot. The easier thing would have been to sign a long-term deal with Everton, which he had the option to do and be that loan player that goes here and there every different season.
'He chose a more difficult route so that tells you about what he's like as a lad. I know it was difficult out there for him living in that situation, it was not easy but he didn't let it affect his football.
'I went to see him play out there and I think it's the whole package. He's still got a lot of development in him as well but it's nice when a player comes in and plays international football and feels comfortable in it so easily and that's what he's shown, so it's not a difficult decision. He doesn't give me any problems as yet, so we'll see!'
O'Neill admitted he didn't know Price's best position. The player gave the same answer but he knows for sure how much he is relishing playing at Windsor Park again.
'The first game that I played here, it sort of felt like home straight away,' he says.
'I think the crowd make you feel that. Every game that I've played since, I just keep feeling better and better. Obviously, I've had nights where I've scored goals here and the crowd have been unbelievable.
'A lot of it is down to other players as well. A lot of my goals have come from great individual play from other players. I think as a team, we just really need to keep doing that.
'There's a lot of belief in the group. Especially when we're at home, it gives an extra boost. We spoke about possession after Saturday's game in Copenhagen (a 2-1 defeat to Denmark). With this game against Iceland there will be a different expectation, maybe one to take the initiative. We feel like we can go and score some goals and hopefully get a good result.
'At home you have a little bit of an extra advantage and when I've played here, it feels like we have a 12th man with the fans.'