West Ham United defender Declan Rice was excluded from Martin O’Neill’s 31-man Republic of Ireland squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations League games against Wales and Poland.
Rice has been capped three times for Ireland after making his international debut against Turkey in March but he can still play for his native England due to the fact that all three of those games were in friendlies.
The 19-year-old has been heavily criticised for his hesitation in committing to the Irish national team and the English reaction has largely been embracing with some questioning why he’s receiving grief for wanting to play for the country of his birth.
I’m confused by the discussion around Declan Rice and him wanting to play for the country of his birth. Surely he was born in a paddy field, no?
— David Preece (@davidpreece12) August 28, 2018
Think he’d look good in a white shirt 😉
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) August 27, 2018
My hope all a long has been that Declan first becomes an England player and then follows in the footsteps of the great Bobby Moore by becoming the captain of England.
Born in England made in West Ham United. dg https://t.co/Yx8auOlcSF
— David Gold (@davidgold) August 27, 2018
Watch as Martin O'Neill explains why Declan Rice's future with @FAIreland is far from certain amid @England interest. #rtesoccer pic.twitter.com/rvSPpU4w47
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) August 27, 2018
Declan Rice switching allegiance to England. If there’s any justice in this world he & Adam Curry will become the best centre backs of their generation so we can have Curry & Rice playing at the back in the next World Cup #hcafc #whufc
— Mike 🖤🧡🇹🇷 (@MikeHull84) August 28, 2018
Just catching up with today’s news,I love Declan Rice and hope he signs a new contract soon but what’s all this England bollox he can’t even get in the West Ham side at the moment,play for Ireland and he could have 40 caps before he could ever play for England
— Ray (@bonzoRay) August 27, 2018
Meanwhile FA technical director Dan Ashworth has highlighted that England are generally lacking in defenders.
“At St George’s Park we map out where the talent is and we might say we’ve got quite a few number 10s or quite a few number sevens,” he told The Telegraph.
“I have to say our biggest discussion point with the majority of the teams is defenders. Across all the age groups it’s defenders.
“Where we perhaps haven’t got the depth – maybe not the depth, but the types – is the defenders. Our full‑backs 20 years ago were Stuart Pearce and Gary Neville, and we’ve got a different type of full-back now – more converted wingers.
“I worked with a manager some years ago who talked about the duvet being too short. You can cover your toes but you can’t cover your shoulders. I think that’s where we were 20 years ago, in that we had lots of defenders but not enough players who were good enough with the ball.
“Maybe we’ve pulled up the duvet and now have lots of players who are good with the ball, but our toes are sticking out.”
England manager Gareth Southgate confirmed that the FA are monitoring Rice’s situation.
“He is somebody whom we know with our technical department,” said Southgate back in January.
“We are across every young player and, of course, there are plenty of young players with dual nationality. Wales have several players who have been in our system and who have got caps.
“So we are always looking. We are aware of him, we are aware of his situation.
“It’s more one for Dan Ashworth as technical director than for me as senior manager.”
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