West Ham United captain Mark Noble has advised starlet Declan Rice to be selfish with his international future, sportslens reports.
Rice is eligible to play for England, despite having already made three international appearances in friendlies for the Republic of Ireland.
The youngster this week rejected a call-up to the Ireland squad for their UEFA Nations League Clash against Wales as he ponders over where his international future lies.
The decision to reject the call up shows that Rice is considering pledging his allegiance to England – the country where he was born – as was he to play for Ireland against Wales he would have been unable to then switch allegiances.
Gareth Southgate’s England squad is full of an array of talent at present, and Rice would have a hard job on his hands trying to work his way into the set-up.
Noble has advised Rice to be selfish about his decision as per a report by The Standard.
Declan is a young lad. Hopefully, he has 15 years playing ahead of him. He has to make his own mind up, knowing that the decision he makes could impact his career massively. He will also understand that, if he has a dip in form for whatever reason, the Irish FA won’t have any hesitation in leaving him out.
You have to look after yourself and be selfish in a way.
I had a similar dilemma a couple of seasons back, although the circumstances were a bit different. I had represented England from schoolboy level right up to Under-21s and my dream had always been to play for my country. My family are from Ireland, though, and their FA contacted me to see if I was interested.”
My thinking, though, was that I had never dreamt of playing for the Republic of Ireland — and I don’t mean that at all disrespectfully. I had played for England through all the age groups. I felt that, if I went to play for Ireland and there was a kid out there whose dream was to play for that country and I had taken his spot, then I didn’t think that would have been right. That’s just the way I am.
