Isaac Price admitted the Northern Ireland players were worried that Michael O’Neill was ready to leave his role as boss this summer before he recommitted to the national team.

O’Neill’s new deal came after he turned down an offer to stay on at Blackburn, having kept Rovers in the Championship while juggling both roles for the final three months of the season.

The 56-year-old said he had “positive talks” with the Ewood Park club before ultimately turning them down and signing a new four-year contract with Northern Ireland last week.

“He went to Blackburn and did a job for them there and we were probably a little bit nervous that maybe he would have taken a club role full-time,” Price said. “But I think everyone’s buzzing.

placeholder image — Northern Ireland's Isaac Price. (Photo by Nick Potts/PA Wire)

“The lads, we all love playing for him. For me, he’s probably been the main manager that I’ve had since I started playing first-team football that has sort of trusted me.

“He threw me in when I was not playing any real senior games at club level.”

Price was one of several Northern Ireland players O’Neill came up against during his short stint in the Championship relegation scrap.

Ultimately they both survived, with West Brom finishing 21st, four points clear of the drop and one behind 20th-placed Blackburn.

Just a week after the last international break, O’Neill and Price went head-to-head on Easter Monday when Blackburn and West Brom drew 0-0 at Ewood Park.

Price said with a laugh: “I gave him a quick text before the game, saying ‘You wouldn’t let us just win this one, would you’?

“He said, ‘No, unfortunately not’.

“It’s obviously a little bit weird. You go from him being your national team manager to then playing against him the following week and we were both in difficult positions.

“But I think Michael showed what sort of manager he is and how good he is to keep them safe. He did a great job for them.”

Since returning to Northern Ireland for his second stint as manager in 2022, O’Neill has moulded a young squad, and Price believes the promise in this group was key to persuading him to stay.

“He’s got a good group of players, they are all young,” Price said. “I think he’s probably excited to keep working with us.

“I’ve been playing here three years now and I think we’re only getting better, the players are only getting better and I think it’s exciting for him.”

This week Northern Ireland face Guinea in a friendly on Thursday before heading to Lille to take on World Cup-bound France on Monday.

Northern Ireland hoped to be flying to North America themselves but their World Cup hopes were ended in a 2-0 qualifying play-off defeat to Italy in March.

“After March there was a real low in the squad,” Price said. “It’s tough when you have that belief and I think the squad definitely did have the belief that we could win those two games.

“The two games now, there’s nothing better for us. I think you just want to get back away and start playing again and start building again.”