Dundalk have confirmed that the FAI has made an approach for their assistant coach Ruaidhri Higgins. 

The former Derry City and Dundalk midfielder has been Perth's assistant since the start of 2018.

Higgins played under new Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny at both the Brandywell and Oriel Park.

Keith Andrews and Damien Duff have already been confirmed as the backbone of Kenny's new backroom team, succeeding Terry Connor and - it seems - Robbie Keane.

Prior to Perth taking over from Kenny at Dundalk, Higgins worked as opposition analyst, a role which the Irish Independent's Dan McDonnell says took on added significance in Europe.

However, the headhunting of Higgins has not gone down well with his current employers.

"It’s disappointing that a member of staff that I rate so highly has been approached to move elsewhere", Perth told Dundalk's website.

With Higgins under contract at the SSE Airtricity Premier Division champions, the club would be owed compensation should the 35-year old be poached.

Perth added, "The manner in which the approach was conducted is something that I’m not happy about and I will leave that with our board of directors and the FAI to deal with."

"I feel very strongly about protecting our staff and players and the board have been exceptional with this since I took over. We have people under contract and those contracts need to be honoured and respected.

"We fully understand that this is a wonderful opportunity for Ruaidhri,

"I have always said that to win a league title you need league winning staff and I have definitely had that. He has played a key part in our success.

"My job now is to protect Dundalk FC and I have time on my side to make whatever decisions need to be made over the next couple of weeks."