Aston Villa midfielder Stephen Ireland has opened the door to playing again for the Republic of Ireland.
He has been in limbo since his contentious departure from the squad prior to a 1-0 defeat to the Czech Republic, which effectively ended hopes of making Euro 2008.
Ireland told the Daily Star: "Until the question comes from the FAI, or some kind of contact comes from them, I can't really think about it.
"Obviously I've matured as a person since then. Things are much more settled and I'm at a club where I am playing. Now the kids are putting me under pressure to play for Ireland.
"My seven-year-old is playing football and he's really good. He would like to see me playing for Ireland. Obviously it all could have been dealt with in a better way at the time.
"But even if it had been, I'd still have needed that big gap at some stage anyway.
"I just think it was a very difficult time. Jessica was heavily pregnant as well as having two children to look after."
In fact, Ireland's partner set the ball rolling with a tweet, indicating he might be prepared to patch things up.
He added: "She wants me to go back and wants what's best for my career.
"But I really don't know the answer. It came across as if it was a burden to me to play for my country - but that's not the case."