GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI HAS hinted that Shay Given may not be the only high-profile Ireland player to retire from international duty in the wake of the side’s Euro 2012 exit.
Having recently expressed confidence that none of his senior players would retire, he now seems decidedly less certain, suggesting that the future of both Richard Dunne and Robbie Keane has yet to be clarified.
He told reporters: “Richard sent me a message recently saying he would not be ready for the game with Kazakhstan because he needs a few weeks to recover from his injury, that the game was too soon.
“I answered him and said after this friendly, after he has recovered from his injury, we would review the situation, but I’ve told him we need him, it’s true. He will let us know.”
Meanwhile, in relation to Keane, Trapattoni said:
“I’ve also sent him a text, but he’s not answered me. I’ve checked my mobile.“I will speak with him before I announce my next squad (in around 10 days’ time for the Kazakhstan game).
“He needs to tell me whether he wants to come back or what he wants to do.
“We can decide after this game because it’s important for us to look at the other players. We have (Shane) Long, (Simon) Cox and (Jon) Walters.
“After this game, and before the one with Kazakhstan, we can think about this situation.”
In relation to tomorrow’s match with Serbia, Trapattoni said he was looking forward to giving some of the squad’s younger players the chance to prove themselves, despite the less-than-ideal circumstances surrounding the game.
“I’m not expecting a great result or a beautiful match because we all know the players are at the start of their season with their clubs.“But if we can get a good result, that brings confidence and builds the trust within the team.
“When you have young, new players their morale goes down after a defeat, so a good result would give us that confidence and trust.”
Read: Shay Given: ‘I don’t think we’ll ever get over what happened in Paris that night’>
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