Paddy McNair still committed to Northern Ireland and says new job is no holiday

The 29-year-old has agreed a three-and-a-half year deal to move to California and play for Major League Soccer’s latest expansion franchise, who will join the league in 2025.

McNair said the experience of living and playing abroad has long been something he wanted to get during his career, but that will not come at the expense of playing for his country.

“I wouldn’t have gone if it had affected my international career,” McNair said. “It is a league that is improving and there are high profile players in the league and it will be a good experience…I’ve always wanted to play outside of the UK…

“I’m not going to America for a holiday. It’s still a competitive, tough league. It’s just the experience, something different.

“Obviously I’ve played in the Championship for a long time and it was just sort of that experience, just to sort of look back and say I did try something else that wasn’t just the same old thing.”

The attractions of southern California are obvious but McNair said he was excited about the project being put together in San Diego, with Mexico international Hirving Lozano also due to join from PSV Eindhoven this winter.

“Obviously they’re building the training ground, they’ve got the stadium, they’ve sold something like 22,000 season tickets and they haven’t played a game yet so it should be good,” he said. “It’s new for me too, even talking about it, it’s hard to imagine it.”

McNair, who is playing on loan at West Brom before heading to the United States in the new year, is now one of only two players left in Michael O’Neill’s squad who played at Euro 2016 following the international retirement of Jonny Evans last week.

McNair, who missed June’s friendlies as he was getting married, admitted Evans’ decision was “disappointing” as he paid tribute to the Manchester United defender’s “unbelievable” career.

“He’s a great person,” McNair said. “Northern Ireland fans were probably hoping he could give us another year or two but he’s made the decision and I don’t think Jonny owes anything to anyone.

“He won over 100 caps, he’s probably one of Northern Ireland’s greatest ever players and it was a joy to play with him for the last 10 years.”

The focus is now instead on an exciting crop of young players who will hope to get back to a major tournament in the near future.

“We have some great young players coming through and they need these games to continue improving,” McNair added.

“The two recent campaigns didn’t go the way we would have liked but players like Stuart Dallas, Steven Davis and Jonny experienced that frustration too, campaigns that don’t go your way. But when the good times come it makes it even better if you have experienced tough times.”