Martin O’Neill has indicated that a lack of reliability for squads is the reason why Keiren Westwood has not automatically figured in his Republic of Ireland plans for this summer’s Euro Championships.
Westwood was left out of the slimmed-down Republic squad named last week for friendlies against Switzerland and Slovakia and O’Neill is quoted in the Sheffield Star as saying: “Keiren has pulled out of a number of squads, not just in my time but I think he did it before.
“Therefore, naturally, it’s a concern but I think it’s something … you need a bit of reliability.
“I think that is very, very important – important for anyone you are studying or wanting to bring into the squad.”
O’Neill added that he has never doubted Westwood’s ability, having been his club manager at Sunderland where the Owls keeper largely found himself behind Simon Mignolet in the pecking order.