England manager Gareth Southgate is aware that there is “a lot of pressure” on West Ham youngster Declan Rice.
Rice has been capped three times for the Republic of Ireland, however h,e has yet to be capped in a competitive fixture which means that he can still switch allegiance.
He is still eligible to play for England and is currently weighing up his international future.
Rice last week rejected a call-up to the Republic of Ireland for their upcoming Nations League game against Wales in order to think about where his international future lay.
If he ended up representing Martin O’ Neill’s side in the game against Wales, it would have meant that he would not be eligible to play for England.
Rice has a tough decision to make. If he wants to play for England, he may have to wait a long time, possibly a few years and also work towards becoming a first-team regular at West Ham.
On the other hand, he will be able to get more immediate international exposure if he chooses the Republic of Ireland.
Southgate discussed the situation and said as quoted by The Irish Times: “He is a good young player. He has a really difficult decision as there is a lot of pressure on him. As far as I’m concerned he is with Ireland at the moment. That decision has to lie with him.”
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