It's been a bad week for Finn Azaz, firstly he played in Ireland's defeat in Kosovo, then it was rumoured that his nemesis at Middlesbrough Rob Edwards might be about to become his coach again and then he found himself benched for Ireland against Israel.

There are now rumours going around that Finn Azaz might call time on his International career with Ireland, as givemesport.com are reporting the Southampton midfielder is rumoured to be considering his future for the International team.

But they are speculating that it is not for playing reasons, but due to the situation surrounding the Israel V Ireland game where although Ireland finally agreed to play the game, the players voted to refuse to shake hands with the Israeli squad, indeed ex Southampton goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu went one step further and withdrew from the squad completely.

givemesport.com go on to claim that Azaz who although born in London, qualifies for Ireland through his Cork-born father and was also eligible to represent Israel through his mother who is Israeli and his maternal grandfather was the Israeli sculptor Nehemia Azaz.

That obviously gave him mixed emotions for the game and it is claimed that he is understood to have given an "impassioned speech" to his teammates during the squad's discussions over whether to play the Nations League match in Debrecen, Hungary, according to the Irish Independent.

The report goes on to say that the FAI believe that Azaz might well be willing to end his career with the Irish International team over the subject, having such close connections to Israel it obviously struck a nerve.

Having seen Gavin Bazunu follow the courage of his convictions, it may be that Azaz feels he needs to do likewise and that unlike his former Southampton team mate he actually has close personal reasons for feeling that his team mates, although agreeing to play the game, did not support him and respect his situation.

Via Reuters