Harry Arter still hopeful of forcing his way into Martin O'Neill's Euro 2016 plans

Harry Arter has expressed his disappointment after injury forced him to withdraw from the Republic of Ireland squad.

The Bournemouth midfielder was expected to make his case for a spot in Martin O'Neill's 23-man squad for Euro 2016 in this week's warm-up games against Switzerland and Slovakia.

However, the 26-year-old has been dealing with an Achilles injury in recent weeks and after examining him, the Irish medical staff felt he needed to spend the international break recuperating.

"I went over on an early flight Monday morning," Arter said. "I saw physio and doctor when I got there and told them that I had been struggling for a few weeks with an Achilles problem, so they had a look and got me scanned.

"After that, both the doctor and the boss Martin O'Neill thought the best thing to do was to use this international break to take some rest and get it right.

"I really wanted to go away with Ireland so I had tried to grit my teeth and get through it, but in the end it was just too much."

Despite the setback, Arter is still hopeful he can force his way into O'Neill's plans before the end of the season.

"Of course I had the Euros in my mind," he continued. "That's why I wanted to be fit and available to play, but the doctor seemed pretty certain that it wouldn't help.

"I said to the boss that I could play through the injury if needs be, but he was really supportive and said that I could get myself right and have another opportunity in May.

"So now I am just going to take some rest and try to settle it down. Hopefully it won't take too long."