Northern Ireland boss Ian Baraclough insists Carl Winchester remains firmly on his radar.
Baraclough has included the Sunderland midfielder on his standby list for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Switzerland and Bulgaria.
Winchester has impressed for the Black Cats this season and scored his third goal of the season on Saturday in a 1-0 win over Bolton.
That helped the 28-year-old be named on the EFL League One Team of the Week.
Baraclough said: "He’s on the standby list. He’s someone I’m fully aware of having worked with him at Oldham.
"He was a midfielder then. I think Sunderland have bought him as a midfielder but at the moment they’ve obviously got a problem at right-back.
"I went to watch him the other week against Fleetwood and I thought he had a really solid game.
"He scored last weekend as well so he’s dealing with that situation really, really well."
Winchester's sole Northern Ireland cap to date came 10 years ago in a Celtic Cup defeat to Wales.
But Baraclough believes the versatile midfielder's international career isn't over yet.
"He might have thought at some stage that international football had passed him by a little but it’s certainly not the case," Baraclough added.
"People playing well for their clubs, it will get noticed now. We’ve got more and more people on the ground watching games as well as myself and the first team staff so Carl has done himself no harm whatsoever with a strong start to the season with Sunderland.”
