Seamus Coleman has begun a new hybrid role with the Republic of Ireland after admitting he is considering retirement from playing. The defender has been without a club since ending his 17-year association with Everton at the end of last season.
Coleman was left out of the Ireland squad for the September/October Nations League quadruple-header and was again absent from Heimir Hallgrimsson's squad for this month's games. However, Hallgrimsson last week indicated that Coleman would join the group for the matches against Austria and Kosovo.
Hybrid role with Ireland
The Everton legend linked up with the Ireland squad on Monday and will work alongside the management team while also taking part in some of the training schedule, leaving the door open to adding to his 81 international caps.
"I can inform you that Seamus will be in some sort of a hybrid role in this camp. He is going to do the sessions with the players, but he is going to be in a leadership role and supportive role with us as coaches," Hallgrimsson explained.
"Hopefully that will get him to start playing again. That's our aim, to try to push him to continue playing. He has expressed that he wants to do that. We need to see where he is at. He hasn't done team training for some period now, so we need to see where he is at."
Retirement considerations
Coleman made 433 appearances for Everton and was offered a coaching role by David Moyes before leaving the club in the summer. While he recently stopped short of fully announcing his retirement, Coleman admitted he is 'edging towards' calling time on his playing career.
"I had hopes and ambitions of maybe possibly staying playing on," he said on the latest episode of The Overlap Fan Debate. "The longer I've been off and the more I've been around the family, we've been back home for Halloween break with the kids, the more I'm content with what I'm doing at the minute."
Asked whether he was officially retiring from the sport, Coleman replied: "I don't want to completely draw a line in the sand, as I said I've been keeping fit. But it's edging towards that way - and happily as well."
Regarding what's next, he said: "I've been enjoying family time. I'm doing this [punditry] now and seeing if I enjoy it and see how it goes."
