PADDY McNAIR has been urged to stake a claim for a role down Middlesbrough’s right in a bid to progress by his international boss.

Michael O’Neill, the Northern Ireland manager, was impressed by McNair’s stirring display as an attack-minded right-back against Israel last month and is ready to play him there again in a week’s time.

McNair is yet to start a Championship game for Middlesbrough and the challenge of forcing his way into the starting line-up became harder when Tony Pulis signed Mo Besic and George Saville before the windows closed.

The 23-year-old is already known for his versatility but when he left Manchester United to join Sunderland in August 2016 he outlined how he wanted to be known more as an attacking midfielder.

That is also what Pulis was suggesting after agreeing to pay the Black Cats £5m in the summer by claiming he expected him to get into the box with the potential of scoring ten from midfield.

But the increased options in the middle of midfield has made it harder, and there is a shortage of first team squad members who can compete with Ryan Shotton for the right-back slot – a position McNair was used in by Pulis in the summer.

O’Neill thinks McNair should be thinking seriously about a change, hinting he will almost certainly be appearing down the right when Northern Ireland face Austria and Besic’s Bosnia and Herzegovina on October 12 and 15 in the Nations League.

"I had a good conversation with Paddy before the Israel game and told him where I was going to play him," said O'Neill. "Paddy is a player I like to have in the team, but with the shape of the midfield, he nearly needs to get into the team ahead of Steven Davis, which is a big ask.

"He has to get his mind around to thinking that right-back or wing-back could be his position. Against Israel he was superb.

"That's what we want; Paddy driving forward on the right and Jamal Lewis doing the same on the left. It gives you a real dynamic team.

"I've said to Paddy that people are paying £50m for full-backs these days, so it's not a defensive position, it's more an attacking position.

"With the game in front of him he gets to maximise the attributes he has; his running power and his quality on the ball. I was delighted with how he played and his attitude.”

And he thinks the fact that he needs to consider how his career at Middlesbrough has started when weighing up whether a switch to the right could be the way forward.

“Right now Paddy is not starting for Middlesbrough,” said O’Neill. “The challenge for Paddy now is to get into the Middlesbrough team and be prepared to play anywhere at a time when they are flying at the top of the Championship."

It seems unlikely McNair will be thrown in at right-back this weekend, when Aitor Karanka will return to the Riverside with Nottingham Forest. It is not his first appearance since his departure, as he was in charge of Forest in April when Stewart Downing and Daniel Ayala’s goals won it for Middlesbrough.

Forest will head to Teesside unbeaten in six and he insists he only holds fond memories of his time at the club.

"I do not feel as though I have a point to prove, I proved myself during my time there," he told Nottinghamshire Live. "We had very good moments and I do not remember too many bad moments. We were in the Premier League and three points below 17th (when he left). I do not have any bad memories there.

"I'm looking forward to it. I said always that those three and a half years were amazing for me. I started my career there, so it is a club that will always be in my heart. I have a lot of friends there. I am really pleased to go back there. But during the 90 minutes I will forget all about them."

McNair is joined by Middlesbrough team-mate George Saville in the Northern Ireland squad for the upcoming games. As well as Besic being in the Bosnia squad, Martin Braithwaite has been named in the Denmark party to face Austria. More international call-ups are expected.