The Football Association of Ireland has indicated that it would consider Jermaine Pennant's desire to play international football for the Republic of Ireland, if he should make contact. The 28-year-old Stoke City winger, who has represented England at Under-21 level, has admitted that he has given up hope of winning senior caps for the country of his birth and has said that he wants to turn to Ireland, for whom he believes he qualifies through a grandfather.

Pennant made his comments in an interview with the Stoke Sentinel. He said: "My grandad is Irish, so there's a chance I can play for them. I'm not getting any younger and I would like to play international football. And who's to say Ireland can't get to the next World Cup? If I could be a part of that, then it would be great.

"Of course, I would love to play for England, but it has never happened and I don't think it is going to. That's not because of my ability, but maybe misdemeanours in the past have put a halt to that coming about."

The Nottingham-born winger, whose former clubs include Arsenal, Birmingham City and Liverpool, was jailed in 2005 for a drink-driving offence. He has since rebuilt his career and is back in England after a spell with Real Zaragoza in Spain.

The Republic of Ireland manager, Giovanni Trapattoni, has worked hard to increase the depth of his squad and Stoke's Glenn Whelan, Marc Wilson and Jon Walters have been selected. However, the Italian has a strong group of wide midfielders already, with Damien Duff, Aiden McGeady, Liam Lawrence, Stephen Hunt, Keith Fahey and Andy Keogh having played there and the Everton youngster Seamus Coleman emerging.

Trapattoni's team will resume their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign at home to Macedonia later this month. Victories over Armenia and Andorra were followed by a defeat by Russia and a draw in Slovakia. The Irish are second in Group B, behind the Russians on goal difference. They finished behind the then world champions, Italy, in qualification for the 2010 World Cup and missed out on the finals in South Africa after a controversial play-off defeat by France.