Martin O'Neill has revealed that Reading midfielder Liam Kelly pulled out of the Republic of Ireland squad because he wants to keep his international options open.
The English-born 22-year-old has played for Ireland at Under-19 and Under-21 level and was named in O'Neill's extended panel for this Friday's friendly in Turkey.
However, the Derryman revealed at Ireland's training base in Antalya today that Kelly had informed him by text that he did not want to travel with the rest of the panel.
"You might want to ask about Liam Kelly, who I think wants to keep his options open at this minute," said O'Neill.
"Obviously he's born in England and wants to keep those options open and that's fine.
"What did I do? I did actually leave a message or two and he got back to me by text.
"I've always said here that it's the player's choice. It's exactly what it is and if he wants to think that England might come in, that's entirely his decision.
"He had not returned a lot of calls coming through at the time (when named in squad). Despite the fact that I knew where he was born, I thought that was okay.
"I spoke to his agent quite some considerable time ago and I think that was always going to be okay, I felt. He was in the squad before and had to pull out with a hamstring problem."
This Kelly situation, of course, is reminiscent of the Jack Grealish saga, which hogged headlines two and a half years ago.
Then the Aston Villa man switched allegiances from Ireland to England as his star and profile rose.
Grealish could have made a late dash for Euro 2016 inclusion had he stuck with the country he had represented from Under-17 through to Under-21 level but he later said he "felt more English than Irish" and so threw his weight in with the country of his birth.
The midfielder has yet to be capped for England at senior level.
Follow Turkey v the Republic of Ireland via our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and the News Now App, or watch exclusive terrestrial coverage on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 5.00pm with kick-off in Antalya at 5.30pm.
