'We have a lot of good players coming through' as Isaac Price aims for World Cup with Northern Ireland’s new generation

Michael O’Neill is moulding a new-look side built around the likes of Price, Conor Bradley, Shea Charles and Trai Hume, and took encouragement from Friday’s 1-1 friendly draw away to Romania, five months after an otherwise poor Euro 2024 qualifying campaign ended with a 2-0 home win over Denmark.

The youthful starting line-up named in Bucharest felt like a significant one as O’Neill challenged his promising crop of emerging players to take ownership of the side, and fans will hope for more of the same against Scotland in Glasgow on Tuesday night.

Northern Ireland are using this month’s friendlies and those in June to prepare for the return of the Nations League later in the year.

But there is also a focus on 2025’s World Cup qualifying campaign – and Price believes Northern Ireland can be ready to challenge for a place at a tournament that will expand to 48 teams.

“I think it’s very realistic,” Price told the PA news agency. “We’ve got a lot of good young players coming through, and even under-21s who are playing at a good level – Dale Taylor has gone with the 21s this month and he’s playing for Wycombe every week and doing well.

“We’ve got players here playing in the Championship and Conor playing in the Premier League and the Europa League. We’ve got a lot of good young players coming through and I think the next World Cup can definitely be one we aim for.”

Price earned his 10th cap in Bucharest, and linked up well with Bradley, Hume and Charles in a promising combination down the right-hand side.

It was another demonstration of the progress Price, 20, has made since deciding to leave boyhood club Everton last summer and move to Standard Liege.

Twenty-eight games into the Belgian season, Price said the step up into senior football had accelerated his progress.

“I’ve moved to a different country and started playing men’s football where it means a lot more and you’ve got a lot more eyes on you but it can only do me well,” he said.

“When I was in the under-21s I probably had a bit more freedom to play it as you see it, there’s not as much structure, you can go show a bit more.

“But in a first-team environment it’s very structured, you’re going out to win games, you want to win games and hopefully put yourself up in the league table, in our case to get into Europe next season.

“I feel I’ve developed more. Physically I still need to get stronger, faster. The league over there is very tough, and when you come into international football you start playing against the best players from any country.”

Last week, O’Neill cited Price’s progress in urging other young players to consider a move to the continent if they need more regular first-team football, something the Northern Ireland manager prizes when it comes to selecting his squads and his teams.

The new generation have been making waves for both club and country, and it feels as though positive change is coming.

“For me, I’ve not been in the squad for that long,” Price said. “I’ve only been in since the last campaign so I’ve only heard of what it was like before I got in the camp and the sort of players we’ve had.

“But Northern Ireland always had top players playing in the Premier League and players playing in the top leagues. We want to do better. We want to qualify for major tournaments.”