Gareth: Rice has shown character and leadership
WEST HAM UNITED YOUNGSTER CALLED UP TO ENGLAND SQUAD FOR DOUBLE-HEADER
Gareth Southgate insists Declan Rice’s club form warranted his first England call-up - but has made no guarantees to the West Ham midfielder after he switched international allegiances.
Rice was the only new face in the Three Lions squad for this month’s Euro 2020 qualifiers, just a week on from gaining FIFA clearance to represent England as opposed to the Republic of Ireland.
England kick off Group A against the Czech Republic at Wembley next Friday before heading to Podgorica to take on Montenegro.
Southgate has named a 25-man squad for the doubleheader, with West Ham midfielder Rice, as expected, the headline inclusion.
The 20-year-old appeared for the Republic of Ireland’s youth teams and won three senior caps, but FIFA last week ratified his switch to England as those three appearances came in friendlies.
Southgate has been a longterm admirer of Rice, who was named Ireland’s Young Player of the Year, and is looking forward to welcoming him into the fold - but stopped short of making future promises.
“Well, his form warrants it,” the England boss replied when asked about Rice’s inclusion.
“It’s obviously been a wellpublicised situation with Declan. We’ve tracked him for quite a while. I think they are really big decisions when you are asking a player to transfers associations.
“You have to be very clear that you feel they have a future with you. That said, there were never any guarantees made to him. Because I think that was also important.
“You’ve got to be playing well to get in the squad. But his form has been excellent, we like what we’ve seen in terms of his personality, his character, leadership qualities.
“There aren’t many players of his age playing as well as he is in the Premier League. We’ve actually got a few good young players playing well in the Premier League. So, in the end, you can talk about talent a lot.”