Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson says Seamus Coleman is in his plans for the big World Cup play-off with Czechia next month, even if he doesn’t feature for Everton in the meantime.
The 37-year-old has been on the periphery for the Toffees this season and also found himself out of favour with Ireland at the beginning of this qualifying period.
However, the team have improved hugely since his recall and Coleman delivered huge performances against Portugal and Hungary to help Ireland make the play-offs.
Ireland are due to take on Czechia on March 26 and if they come through that will face either Denmark or North Macedonia in a play-off.
Preparations are well underway for the game in Prague and the manager does have some injury concerns and players out of favour.
Coleman hasn’t played for Everton since November after picking up a hamstring injury.
He did return to fitness and was on the bench for three games last month, but was out of the squad for their last two matches against Fulham and Bournemouth.
The Killybegs man sat beside Toffees boss David Moyes when he was suspended for the Fulham came and the Icelander feels that shows the value and respect he can bring to a group.
Hallgrímsson said: “He did so well for us in the last camp.
“So obviously we’re hoping he’ll get the minutes that would be ideal for us for him to play.
“But just to see him up on the stands with ‘Moyesy’ (David Moyes) shows how much they respect him. So if he’s not in the squad, he’s helping the coach, managing the game, etcetera.
“He’s not like somewhere else with the fans. He’s helping the team like he can help us.
“But obviously we always want our players to be playing every game and coming to the camp – this is an important camp – fit and with good run-off matches behind.”
Hallgrímsson was asked if he would bring Coleman even if he didn’t feature for Everton over the next six weeks, and said “He has shown that he can play for Ireland without playing for Everton).
“We were surprised how well he did in two games. We played almost two 90 minute games against strong opponents at this level with only two recovery days in between.
“But obviously it would be ideal that he would be doing that on a regular basis.”
