Adam Hammill is the latest Barnsley player to register an interest in playing international football.
The 28-year-old winger, who was the Reds Player of the Year as he fired them into the Championship last season, says he is eligible for either the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland.
Hammill told the Chronicle: "I am definitely interested. The Republic of Ireland were interested in me when I was at Wolves (in 2011) but I was then called up for the England under 21s.
"It has not been spoken about since then but I feel I am in a good place and on good form. I would welcome interest from either nation. You saw in the Euros this summer how well the likes of Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic did and I would love to be involved in something like that."
Meanwhile, Hammill also claims that tomorrow's hosts Brighton are the kind of promotion-chasing club Barnsley should look to emulate. After winning League One in 2011, Seagulls have been very close to reaching the Premier League – losing in the play-off semi-finals in three of the last four seasons.
Hammill told the Chronicle: “Brighton are a benchmark of the kind of team we want to become, regularly challenging for promotion and playing an attractive brand of football. They play a similar style of football to us and it should be an interesting game."
Hammill will be hoping to add to his goals tally after netting against former clubs Rotherham and Wolves in the last month. But, after re-establishing his reputation with some tremendous form last season, he says he has been targeted for extra tight marking.
He said: “Certain players in our team have been shown a lot of respect by the opposition. I have been double-marked in most of our games so it is difficult to get as many goals and assists as I would like.
“But it just means there is more space for our other players and we have quality all over the pitch. I am happy to sacrifice my personal goals and assist stats to get wins.”
Hammill is delighted to have helped the Reds to fourth in the Championship with five wins from eight games. He said: “A lot of promoted clubs come into the Championship in awe of the teams they are playing against but we have just gone about our business and got results. We have proved we belong in this league and it’s a been a great start but we can’t rest on our laurels because we are fourth, we need to look to push on from there.
“We were disappointed to lose against Reading on Saturday. But we were encouraged by the reaction of the Reading fans and players who celebrated a lot and knew they had beaten a really good side. Our fans were magnificent as well, as they have been all season.
“They appreciate our style of play and our effort and the way they cheered us off has given us more confidence.”
Hammill says there has been no dip in confidence at Oakwell this week after the loss, adding that head coach Paul Heckingbottom and his staff have been getting the squad to work on new formations.
Hammill, who has almost exclusively been used as a left winger in a 4-4-2 since re-joining the Reds in November last year, said: “We have been trying a few different formations to give us different options.
"A lot of us have been training in different positions. At this level, you need to be able to adapt to different opposition. We will be able to use what we have worked on in the future, whether that is at the start of a game or midway through a match.”
