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O'Neill revealed that he met with Galaxy boss Bruce Arena to discuss the 33-year-old's progress following surgery and agreed that he was better served sitting out the Serbia game.
"I met up with his manager Bruce Arena in London in January," explained the Ireland boss. "We both agreed to let him get settled in after the operation. They're starting the season very, very shortly.
"We'll monitor his situation and hopefully he'll be ready for the summer games.
"Robbie's pretty happy with that. For the travelling time, if I'm going to look at someone else at this minute, if I'm going to play him for maybe a half of a game, I didn't feel it was worth it."