Roy Hodgson: "The clubs are talking and I hope the deal will go through. He's a player that interests us.
"Damien and I go back a long way from when we worked together at Blackburn. He wants to come back to west London.
"Damien had injury problems at Chelsea and has done well at Newcastle given the turmoil there.
"Every time he's played for Ireland he's consistently been one of their best performers.
"We know what we'd be getting with Damien - he's an experienced and quality player."