Hi °C | Lo °C Giovanni Trapattoni believes Stephen Ireland could still make a return in the green jersey but will not chase him into doing so, a stance that has been backed by Richard Dunne.
The Manchester City captain is not convinced that his club colleague will ever come back to play for his country, but insists that no-one should beg the player to reconsider his position.
Trapattoni went to watch the Cobh-born midfielder in action for his club against Wigan last Sunday week, but did not try to speak to him, satisfied that the approach made in August by Liam Brady -- again rejected by Ireland -- was enough.
Dunne has also tried to talk him around to little avail and is firmly of the opinion that nothing more can be done, frustrating as it is given the level of the 22-year-old's performances in the Premier League.
"I don't think anything more can be done," said Dunne. "He's 22 now and he's made his decision, he doesn't want to play and that's it.
"What the manager has done is say the door is open and if he wants to come back, then he can come back. But I think the longer it goes on, the more difficult it gets. If we get to a stage where next September we're sitting top of the table and looking like qualifying, is it right that he comes back?"
The central defender has acknowledged that the issue does wind other players up as they spend a lot of time on international duty talking about someone who is on a self-imposed exile.
"That's the one big annoying factor of it," Dunne stated. "If he doesn't want to play then fair enough, it's his own choice or whatever, but if we have to keep getting asked about it and answer questions on his behalf every time we turn up then that's annoying.
"He did an interview last week but hasn't really clarified it. Unless he comes out and says, 'I don't want to play for Ireland' then it's going to keep going over and over."
In that context, Trapattoni does not believe it is out of the question that the man of the moment could change his mind.
"I have the feeling that in the future, he decides he can change, that he can go again with the national team," said the Ireland boss.
"At the moment, he's not (ready), but maybe he will show us in future that he is."
