IRELAND BOSS MARTIN O’Neill is keeping an open mind on Shay Given’s international recall, with his assistant Roy Keane due to watch the keeper this weekend.
Keane will be at the Riverside Stadium later today for Middlesbrough’s Championship clash against struggling Charlton Athletic.
Given, 37, has impressed since going out on loan to Teeside and has kept five clean sheets in his last six starts.
The Donegal stopper walked away from the international set-up after Euro 2012 but has made it clear that he is open to a recall if asked by the new management.
With Keiren Westwood set for an extended period on the sidelines, O’Neill is weighing up his options ahead of the Serbia friendly in March.
Westwood had surgery this week on the shoulder injury that has ruled him out for the last two months. Despite initial fears that he could miss the rest of the season, Sunderland manager Gus Poyet was more optimistic.
“It’s difficult to put a time on it because in the end, it was better than we thought,” Poyet said.
“Initially when they went in and they checked, it was not as bad as they thought, so it probably be shorter, but it’s difficult to say a time.”
Westwood’s injury has left Sunderland on the lookout for a new goalkeeper with Ireland’s David Forde among those linked with a move to the Stadium of Light this week.
O’Neill will be at Reading versus Bolton where he will be hoping to run the rule over both Alex Pearce and Stephen Kelly.
