Martin O'Neill has expressed surprise that Robbie Brady failed to secure his return to the Premier League in the transfer window with the 24 -year-old attracting early interest, it was widely reported, from Leicester City and West Ham.

But ultimately he is staying put at Norwich with the result that he will be playing in the Championship until at least the new year.

The Dubliner had only moved to Carrow Road last summer, after Hull had been relegated, for a fee of around €8 million.

But there were suggestions Norwich wanted close to three times that amount to let him go now, something that, if true, may well have deterred potential suitors even after a European Championship showing that, O’Neill believes, should have earned him his ticket back to the top flight.

"I am surprised, I must admit, that he is not playing in the Premier League. Particularly on the strength of what he did in the Euros and I actually think Jeff Hendrick [who moved to Burnley for around €12.5 million on Wednesday] was transferred on what he's done at the Euros, not really what he's done for Derby in the last year.

Get forward

“He [Brady] been really terrific. And very adaptable. I feel there are two positions he can play equally as well. I feel he can see a lot of the game coming from a left-back position and that’s fine and I wouldn’t have a problem playing him there which he has done.

“And if we moved him into the middle of the field in games if we play three in the middle and he’s on the left side of that, he can get forward and do things with it.

“I have been championing his cause now for the last couple of years. Does he play brilliantly for us, maybe better than he has done at club level? I don’t know is the answer but he has been exceptional for us.

“We build him up, he’s great and you keep telling him he’s great and then he’s fantastic, absolutely. He does a couple of daft things in matches, you know, like everything else but overall he is a really, really fine player.”

Brady provided a reminder of his growing importance to the Ireland team on Wednesday night with a fine free kick for the opening goal and a major hand in the two that followed next.

He is likely to be a key figure in Serbia as O’Neill and his players get their campaign for World Cup qualification under way on Monday night.

James McCarthy is out of that game with the Everton midfielder due to undergo a procedure on his groin this morning that will sideline him for at least two weeks. Seamus Coleman and John O’Shea continue to make progress in training, however, with the Sunderland defender likely to be declared available for the game in Belgrade and Coleman still considered to be in with a shout.

“James has gone back,” says O’Neill. “He is due an operation on Friday so there is no point in him hanging around.

“He was feeling it a little and there was a possibility of a wee bit of transfer talk about him, maybe on loan. Eventually my doctor was speaking to the people at Everton and they really wanted him back. They all felt: ‘let’s get this done and clear this up’.

“According to Everton one of their first team players had a similar problem operated on and is now playing again in just over two weeks so seemingly that is what they are looking at.”

The paperwork

“John is going to be okay,” he continued. “He is fine. He did some work at Sunderland and then came in. So he is fine but just needed a wee bit more time. Séamus has trained on his own, at the moment, (with the physios) and is improving all the time and it would be great if he was available.”

Aiden McGeady, meanwhile, will be back after missing the Oman game in order to sort out the paperwork on a season-long loan from Everton to Preston North End from the Irish squad’s Dublin hotel.

“I was pretty keen on getting something sorted,” he said. “I was out of the picture at Everton, the manager made that clear to me after my first couple of days back that I wouldn’t be involved, so I had to get something sorted. A couple of things popped up abroad that I wasn’t against, and up until this came up I was probably going abroad again, because I have done that before, but this is the perfect fit for me.”

Preston boss Simon Grayson said he was delighted with the move “It’s a fantastic signing for us obviously, he’s played at the highest level, he’s a Republic of Ireland international, and he’s a player who has got fantastic ability.”

“He’s got pace, good feet, good delivery, so I think he is really good signing for us, a real coup given his pedigree and the clubs that he has played for previously.”