Martin O’Neill "genuinely does not know" whether Jack Colback has played his last game for Nottingham Forest.
The on-loan Newcastle man will miss the final three games of the season through suspension, after collecting a controversial yellow card at Sheffield United.
The caution - which was delivered, in harsh fashion, for simulation by referee Andy Madley - was Colback’s 15th of the season.
The 29-year-old will return to the Premier League club this summer, with a year still left to run on his contract.
And, when asked if the suspension would mean the defeat at Bramall Lane would be Colback’s final game for the club, O’Neill said: “I genuinely do not know that.
“I need to have a conversation with him. I think that Jack - without having had this conversation with him - has another year left on his contract at Newcastle.
Newcastle midfielder Jack Colback discusses his future at Nottingham Forest
“I would not know what their plans are for him. Even if they are happy to allow him to move on, there are other issues that we would need to deal with.
“We will sit down with him now, now that he is out of the team for the next couple of matches.”
Colback was again utilised at left back - a role he has filled at Ipswich, Sunderland and Newcastle previously, while regular left-back Jack Robinson was left out of the squad in Yorkshire.
O’Neill is likely to restore the former QPR defender to the Reds ranks when Middlesbrough visit on Monday, with Colback suspended.
And he said the decision to play him there was motivated, in part, because he wanted to look at other options in the centre of the pitch - with Claudio Yacob given a chance to show what he can do.
This is the team Nottingham Forest fans want to see face Middlesbrough
“Jack has played left-back plenty of times previously. He played left-back at Ipswich, under Roy (Keane) and he has played left-back for me as well previously,” said O’Neill.
“It was an operational thing, because we wanted to look at Claudio Yacob in midfield.
“I know what Jack can do in that position and I was hoping that, from the left-back position, when he could see the game in front of him, he could get forward and help us offensively.”
