New West Brom signing James McClean has been popping up in headlines all over the place during his first few weeks with his new club, even prompting his captain Darren Flecther to hit the nail on the head in his public defence of the Ireland winger.
During Tuesday's preseason game against Walsall, McClean showed off his latest tattoo which now means the surface area of his skin that is not covered in ink has been reduced to just 2.4%*.
(* = completely made up figure)
Situated just inches below a big "FREE DERRY" tattoo in bold letters is a quote from a source you would not expect to find from a Premier League footballer, in British author and playwright Enid Bagnold.
We will admit to our ignorance over the body of Bagnold's work, so in lieu of our lack of knowledge of British playwrights from the early 1900s we shall offer you this nugget from Britannica.com:
Bagnold’s best-known work is the novel National Velvet (1935), which tells the story of an ambitious 14-year-old girl who rides to victory in Great Britain’s Grand National steeplechase on a horse bought for only £10; a motion picture of the same title was made from the novel in 1944.
We're not sure which play or novel McClean found the following quote in, but he went ahead and got it tattooed on his thigh:
West Bromwich Albion midfielder James McClean shows off 'Enid Bagnold' tattoo during pre-season friendly again... http://t.co/Q6JQU2Rs58
— West Brom News (@WestBromMail) July 29, 2015
A father is always making his baby into a little woman. And when she is a woman he turns her back again.
McClean has a one year old daughter, who we presume this new ink is inspired by.
Wayne Rooney has Stereophonics lyrics tattooed on his forearm, but we've never seen a footballer with such an unusually cultured quote on their body before.
UPDATE:
James McClean has actually gotten in touch with us on twitter to let us know that the tattoo is a year old:
@ballsdotie " james mcclean got this tattoo over a year ago " ?
— James McClean (@JamesMcC14) July 29, 2015
Apologies for that, let down by #BallsSources once again.
