McNamee turns down Russia trip

The 21-year-old was expected to be selected by the Irish Colleges & Universities for the July competition, but he felt that missing out on a possible Europa League tie and crucial league games with Candystripes was something which he wasn’t going to miss out on.

Only last year McNamee had a trial with Championship side Nottingham Forest and if a chance to get a dream move over to a cross channel club materialises during the summer, then he feels staying put is his best option.

“The World Student Games would have been a great opportunity for me,” stated McNamee.

“But with it coming in the middle of July when we’ll have a lot of important games and we might be in a Europa League round, so I decided to stay with Derry and try to maintain my place in the team.

“I got a phone call about being in the squad, but I spoke to a friend who played in it a couple of years ago and he said that yes it was a great experience but it wasn’t worth messing up my career at Derry.”

The Ramelton man, who has scored in his last two games, also wants to ensure that he stays in Declan Devine’s starting line-up.

“I look at someone like Dermot McCaffrey who played virtually all last season at left-back, but this season Thomas (Crawley) has come in and Dermot hasn’t been able to get in after coming back from injury.

“While in midfield we have Deerso (Kevin Deery) and Housty (Sean Houston) to come back from injury as well, so there is going to be competition for places, so whenever you are in there it’s up to yourself to stay in the team.”