In-form Wigan Athletic ace aiming to attract international attention

Jordan Jones enjoyed his afternoon's work at Peterborough on Saturday

The 29-year-old winger has rolled back the years this term since coming back in from the cold after spending the best part of two years out on loan at St Mirren and Kilmarnock.

At the weekend he supplied the crucial final ball for Thelo Aasgaard's opening goal at Peterborough - one of eight assists this season in 26 appearances.

In addition, he has also made the most ‘key passes’ (39) of any Latics player in all competitions so far.

And having dropped down the pecking order at international level in the last year or so, Jones is hoping the return of O'Neill - the former Latics midfielder - as national boss will aid his attempts to regain his starting spot.

"I'm desperate to get more caps for Northern Ireland," said Jones, who was recalled to the national squad earlier this season after an absence of 22 months. "In the last couple of years, I don't think I've deserved to get many caps, I'll be the first to admit that.

"Over the years, when I have deserved to get caps, I've got them.

"I felt like I did really, really well under Michael O'Neill in the past, and obviously he is back in charge now.

"So I'm really looking forward to hopefully being a big part of the squad again, and getting more and more minutes in future."

Jones is also hoping his experience can help the next generation of Northern Ireland players to make their mark.

"There's a lot of youngsters in the Northern Ireland squad at the moment, it's in a bit of a development stage," added Jones, who was born in Redcar but qualifies for Northern Ireland through his dad.

"We'll just have to wait and see, but hopefully if I can keep playing well for Wigan, who knows?"

Jones has 19 caps to his name so far, the first of which came as a substitute against Switzerland in November 2017, in a World Cup qualifying play-off.

He scored his one goal to date in a 3-0 victory against Malta in Austria in May, 2021.