Tom Cannon: Stephen Kenny says Republic of Ireland U21 striker 'reflecting' on England approach

Liverpool-born Tom Cannon (right) scored on his Republic of Ireland U21 debut in March

Stephen Kenny says Republic of Ireland Under-21s player Tom Cannon is "reflecting" on his international future after an approach by England.

The Liverpool-born Everton striker, 20, had an impressive loan spell at Preston North End this season.

He scored on his Republic U21 debut in March but has opted out of the Irish U21s' current trip to Austria.

Ireland manager Kenny said the player's agent had confirmed an approach by England U21s management.

"His agent is Kenny Moyes, and he just said, 'let's get this camp out of the way and we'll come and meet you and have a chat'," said Kenny.

"He said, 'obviously England U21s have made an approach' and he just needed a bit of time to reflect and see what the situation was and wanted to speak to me after the camp, sit down and have a conversation."

After scoring on his Republic U21s debut following appearances for the country's under-19s and under-20s, Cannon was named in Kenny's senior squad for a training camp in Bristol last month but did not take part in that because of illness.

"He had tonsillitis and pulled out of the camp - and he had tonsillitis to be honest with you," added Kenny.

Republic of Ireland U21s manager Jim Crawford said in March that he was confident Cannon wouldn't follow Jack Grealish and Declan Rice in switching allegiance to the country of his birth.

However, the situation seems less certain three months on.

"He's probably done better [at Preston] than could have been expected," said Kenny.

"It's early days. It's sort of new information in the last while. I wasn't aware of it before to be honest, when Kenny Moyes rang me and said that he just needed time to breathe and see what the situation was."

Former Republic of Ireland midfielder Lee Carsley is the England U21s manager.