PATRICK Kelly will have a few weeks off before potentially facing one of the best teams in world football when Northern Ireland take on France next month.
The 21-year-old Barnsley midfielder, who has been in the last two senior Northern Ireland squads, is hoping to take on the likes of Kylian Mbappe in a friendly in Lille on June 8.
Kelly told the Chronicle: “That’ll be a good game. It’s their last game before the World Cup so I’m sure there’ll be a few of the big boys playing.
“I’ve got three to four weeks now and obviously I need to still stay in shape.”
Kelly has been one of Barnsley’s best players since signing from West Ham last summer.
But he wants to add end product to his game after scoring three goals and adding six assists.
“Obviously I’m not that pleased with those numbers. It’s OK but that’s all it is and I know I can do a lot better, especially with how I’ve been playing.
“I’m getting myself in positions for an assist or a goal.
“So it’s just about working on the execution and I think pre-season will be big for me, having a lot of time in training to be able to work on that because I haven’t really had much training here to be honest.
“It’s been constant games since Christmas so I’m looking forward to a lot of training over pre-season.”
Kelly is expected to attract interest from other clubs this summer but says he is ‘fully focused on Barnsley.’
“I can see myself coming back and trying to be one of the main figures next year and trying to be a leader in the changing room as well.
“It was a big season for my development this year and I still feel like I’ve got a few levels to go up so I’m really excited for next season.”
Kelly and his colleagues found out head coach Conor Hourihane would be leaving with a fortnight left in the season.
“There’s a lot of good professionals in that changing room and I don’t think it really affected anyone too much.
“I think everyone had a lot of respect for Conor and his staff.
“It was just about seeing out the season and doing well but I think now there’ll be people probably asking questions and wondering who the manager’s going to be and obviously it’s exciting to find out who it’s going to be.“
