Reading midfielder Liam Kelly retains hope of playing for England.

Martin O'Neill has revealed that Reading midfielder Liam Kelly has been ignoring his calls and could snub Republic of Ireland in favour of England.

The 22-year-old has scored six times for the Royals this season and boss Jaap Stam has likened him to Barcelona and Spain playmaker Andres Iniesta.

O'Neill said: "I think he wants to keep his options open at this minute. Obviously, he's born in England and wants to keep those options open and that's fine.

"I've always said here 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.

"I did actually leave a message or two and he got back to me by text. So when we went to name the squad he had not returned a lot of calls coming through at the time."