Portsmouth, Derby County and QPR target earns international call-up

Following the conclusion of the domestic competitions with the Champions League final on Saturday, all European football fans now gearing up for the upcoming Championships in Germany which begin on 14 June.

International friendlies, which both England and Scotland will treat as warm-up fixtures, are currently underway with Gareth Southgate’s squad beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-0 and Steve Clarke’s side securing a 2-0 win over Gibraltar in last night’s action.

However Pompey fans may well turn their attentions to the efforts of Republic of Ireland after Celtic’s Bosun Lawal received an official call-up from their under 21s squad to replace the injured Nottingham Forest star Andrew Omobamidele.

The Republic of Ireland did not qualify for this summer’s Euros but are taking on Hungary in Dublin tomorrow and Portugal on June 11 and while their newest addition Lawal has been capped up to under 21 level, this latest news marks his first senior call-up.

The Celtic defender, who spent last season on loan at Pompey’s former League One opponents Fleetwood Town, has picked up plenty of transfer speculation and the Blues are one side being credited with an interest in the 21-year-old. Reports last month linked the former Watford academy player with several EFL clubs including Pompey’s rivals Derby County and Championship side QPR.

The most recent reports, however, suggest that Wigan Athletic are also putting their name in the mix with the Latics boss, former Celtic winger Shaun Maloney, keeping tabs on the situation.

While Lawal has not made any Scottish Premiership appearances for the Hoops, he has earned much praise for his League One performances at Fleetwood. The club did, however, suffer relegation and 2024/25 will see them compete in the EFL’s fourth tier.

Lawal first joined the Parkhead side in 2021, leaving behind Watford where he had been since 2019. While at Watford, he was named academy player of the year for the 2020/21 season, and earned praise from then-first team captain Troy Deeney, who compared him to Abdoulaye Doucouré

He was offered a one-year contract by Watford in May 2021, but having attracted interest from Chelsea, Fulham, Norwich City as well as Celtic, he rejected the offer and made the move north of the border where he impressed in the club’s B team.