Republic of Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson has revealed he recently met Blues striker Liam Delap to sound him out about switching international allegiance.
Delap, who is expected to complete a £30 million move to Chelsea over the next few days, qualifies for Ireland via his grandparents, his father Rory having won 11 full caps with the Boys in Green.
The 22-year-old is currently playing for the England U21s, who travel to the European Championship in Slovakia next month, but Hallgrimsson says he has made his case to the Winchester-born frontman.
"Liam has good qualities, everybody knows that,” Hallgrimsson said. ”His father played for the Republic.
"Obviously, we are always hoping the good players will join us. He is now in the England U21 squad in the [Euros] finals.
"That is his focus at the moment. What will happen after that we will have to wait and see.
"We have sat with him, yeah. Just told him we would love to have him in our camp. But, like I said, the focus is the [England] U21s.”
Pressed on whether Delap showed any interest at all, the Icelander joked: "Well, he didn’t say ‘f**k off!’”.
Ultimately, Hallgrimsson concedes any decision to switch will come down to where the player’s international allegiances lie, Delap having played for England at U16, U17, U18, U19 and U20 levels as well as winning 12 U21s caps and scoring three goals.
"I feel so, yeah,” he admitted when asked if players with strong links should be playing for Ireland. "Probably you feel the same as well?
"We want the best players available, always playing for us. Others might have other opinions.
"It is up to him. These questions you need to ask the player himself, not me. We always want the best players.”