Wigan Athletic star reveals autism diagnosis after noticing 'traits'

Five-year-old Willow-Ivy is autistic, and McClean has explained how noticing 'many small traits' led him to get an assessment.

"As you all know, my daughter Willow-Ivy is autistic," he wrote.

"The last four years have been life changing in the most amazing way but also very difficult at times as her daddy watching her overcome so many obstacles in her life and learning how to manage the challenges she faces on a daily basis.

"The more (wife) Erin and I learned about autism the more we began to recognise I was very similar to Willow in more ways than we thought.

"I see so many small traits in her that I see in myself. So I decided to go and get an ASD assessment.

"It's been a bit of a journey and now having a diagnosis I feel it's time to share it, for the week that's in it.

"I have debated for a while going public in sharing this as I've done this for Willow-Ivy, to let her know that I understand and that being autistic won't and should never hold her back from reaching her goals and dreams."

The McCleans have three other children in addition to Willow-Ivy - Allie Mae (8), Junior (6) and seven-week old Mia-Rose.

James made his 97th and 98th appearances for Ireland over the last week against Latvia and France.