Roy Keane has not closed the door on a return to international football, according to a newspaper interview.

"Speaking to Republic manager Brian Kerr was good," Keane told the Irish edition of the Sunday Times newspaper. "You know, as we were finishing our conversation Kerr said 'You never know what might happen down the road'. Well, I believe that, and still think never say never.

"There are people who placed bets on Roy Keane never playing for Ireland again. If I were the bookies, I wouldn't pay out just yet."

Keane said the demands on his 31-year-old body were currently too great to allow him to play for the Republic of Ireland.

"The Champions League games that Manchester United play mean it is not feasible just now. What would happen if I was at a club that wasn't playing in Europe? You never know."

Keane has been stung by accusations that he is a traitor. "Lots of people think I'm the traitor," he said in the interview. "I can't worry about that. I believe I have given good service. I am not looking for a pat on the back. All I would ask is to be judged on what I did on the pitch in my 58 matches for Ireland."

Keane said he may need a hip-replacement operation by the time he is 45 and considered retirement from football when his surgeon told him the extent of the damage.

His hip operation was done by specialist Richard Villar on September 3rd. "There was a lot more damage than expected," Keane said. "His exact words were 'I will be glad if you can get back playing, full stop'.

"We discussed the possibility of my having to retire. He talked about the likelihood of a hip replacement at a very young age and asked me about life after football."

Keane went on to explain the hip problems first came to light in September 2001 and that he needed anti-inflammatory injections to get through games. "The doctor's advice was always 'It's not good to be doing this every week', but I wanted to play. It was my decision to have the injections."

The Voltarol injections were damaging his stomach, Keane added, meaning he was in so much pain he was not able to train for two days following the injections. "If you're not training, your performance is affected. That's the cycle," he said.

Keane also spoke of the reaction to his decision last week to retire from international football. He said his decision to focus on club football was his alone.

"This wasn't the manager or the medical people at the club telling me what to do. Don't think for a second this wasn't my decision. It was my decision. Roy Keane doing what is best for Roy Keane."

He added he had been upset by the reaction. "I feel let down by what has happened in Ireland. I was angry for two days. I've cooled off a bit, but there's a lot of negative things over there. People need to remember the bloody good things when I played for Ireland."

Keane also spoke yesterday of his sympathy for referee Jeff Winter after Arsenal's bad-tempered FA Cup fifth-round win at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Winter brandished four yellow cards inside the first eight minutes and was lambasted by both managers during the game, with Alex Ferguson later commenting that Winter had allowed himself to be bullied by the visitors. But Keane, who became the fourth man booked, for a blatant trip on Robert Pires, believes the referee did an admirable job.

"It was very hard for the referee. "It is easy to criticise when you are watching but there were a lot of late tackles going in and overall I thought he did well."