Ireland ‘warming’ to idea of return

Martin O’Neill believes Stephen Ireland is “warming” to the idea of an international return but the manager says he wants to sit down with the player to discuss his seven-year exile and his current intentions in more detail.

“I would like to speak to him properly about it,” said O’ Neill. “Sit down face to face and say, ‘what was the reason for it?’ But I am not too bothered about the political side. The main thing for me is I want a squad that I feel are actually capable of beating the opposition.

“If some players say, ‘listen, I want to play, let bygones be bygones’, that’s great for me. I get the impression that might be the case [with Ireland] but I don’t want to expand on that until I have the conversation with him.”