Michael O'Neill insists the door remains open for Paul Smyth to return to the Northern Ireland squad.
Smyth has impressed since joining League Two club Leyton Orient in July 2021 and has scored nine goals in 31 appearances this season.
The former Linfield forward scored on his senior Northern Ireland debut under O'Neill back in 2018 in a 2-1 win over South Korea.
Read more: Michael O'Neill offers blunt response to Windsor Park 'going artificial'
The last of his three caps came in 2021 in a friendly defeat to Ukraine when Ian Baraclough was at the helm, and some fans hoped to see the 25-year-old included in O'Neill's squad for this month's European qualifiers against San Marino and Finland.
O'Neill has opted to keep Smyth under a watching brief, and believes a move to a higher league would benefit his international prospects.
"We have watched Paul quite a bit. He had a really good start to the season and then had a bad injury," O'Neill said.
"I actually saw him recently at George Best Airport and he was coming back from injury at that time. Since he has come back he hasn't started that many games.
"But Paul is very much a player we would always keep an eye on. I gave him his debut here and brought him to the Euros in 2016 by supplementing him into the squad.
"I would like to see him do well, certainly. And I would like to see him play at the next level which is League One. If you look at the attacking players we have in the squad, the strikers either play in the Championship or League One.
"So hopefully Paul will get that opportunity. I think he is out of contract at the end of the season, so a strong finish to this season wouldn't certainly help that."
Meanwhile, O'Neill insists striker Liam Boyce is a firm part of his future plans.
Boyce asked not to be considered for selection during Baraclough's tenure in 2021 due to family reasons.
O'Neill said: “I’ve met with Liam in Edinburgh; we had a coffee, he paid for it, which was very nice of him to do.
“Liam will be available when he’s fit. He’s obviously had a cruciate (injury) so he’s probably in a good place in that Liam’s had that injury before so he knows what he’s dealing with.
“Unfortunately he’s missed a good season — Hearts are a good team to watch and I think he would excel in that Hearts team at this moment in time.
"He’s signed a new contract, I think that was agreed prior to him being injured, and he’s keen to come back and play — and I’m very keen to have him back as well.”
READ NEXT:
- Introducing Isaac Price and the three other new players in N Ireland's squad
- Michael O'Neill names his squad for European qualifiers
- Michael O'Neill offers Sean Moore advice as he confirms underage plans
- 5 talking points from Michael O'Neill's NI squad announcement
Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox.
