Sheffield United: Daniel Lafferty to miss Blades' trip to Oldham after recall to Northern Ireland squad

Michael O’Neill’s men play Norway at Windsor Park on Sunday (7.45pm) and Lafferty could win his 14th cap since making his debut against the Netherlands in June 2012.

"Obviously, we are disappointed that he will miss Saturday's game but it is a great opportunity for him to stake a claim at international level once again," said Blades boss Chris Wilder.

The 27-year-old was initially placed on standby for the squad, with O'Neill reluctant to disrupt United's promotion push unless he was likely to start.

“We watched Daniel a couple of weeks ago against Bolton. He’s very much in the equation, but we left him on standby," O'Neill said.

"For players at that level of football, they have to miss their club games, so I don’t want to bring them for the sake of bringing them along. If they come, I want them to have a real opportunity to push to start.”

READ: Blades show their fighting spirit as Chris Wilder keeps it simple

But a change of heart prompted a call-up today - which will undoubtedly delight the proud Northern Irishman.

Speaking back in January, he said: “It would be great to get back in, but to be honest it hasn’t been in my mind in recent months.

“Trying to get into the Northern Ireland squad it’s as hard as it has ever been, but if playing at United and reguarly performing well merited a call-up then it would be fantastic.

“We are playing some nice attractive football, we are scoring goals and have got some very good players at United. There’s a lot of football still to be played, a lot of points to be won and lost, but hopefully in our case it will be a lot more wins than losses.”

Lafferty initially joined United on loan from Burnley, before making his move permanent.