Gareth Southgate admits he spoke to Declan Rice about England

England manager Gareth Southgate has confirmed that he has spoken to Declan Rice about switching his allegiance to the Three Lions.

The West Ham United man has three caps for the Republic of Ireland but, as he was born in London, also qualifies to play for England.

Rice’s three caps were all in friendlies, meaning he can still make the switch to play for England, and there is currently speculation he will do just that in the future, having been left out of Ireland’s most-recent squad.

And Southgate has now admitted he has spoken to Rice but has made no promises to the 19-year-old.

He said (via Football.London): “I think it’s fair to say I have spoken with him but I have not promised anything because I don’t think that’s right.

“It would be easy whether you are with club or national association to promise people things but I can’t promise players who were with us at the World Cup that they will be involved in six months’ time.”

Southgate has also said that it would be ‘arrogant’ of England to assume that a player would automatically jump at the chance to play for them, while also empathising with Rice’s situation.

He added: “It would be wrong of us to be arrogant and think people will just come and play for us because we are England but really I think when you invest in a player at a younger level you hope there is an emotional tie formed.

“All I would say for Declan is I think the boy is in a really difficult position now and I’m extremely conscious of that. He has to make a decision… I think it’s important that he is allowed that opportunity.”

Following their run to the World Cup semi-final in Russia this summer, England were back in action on Saturday night in a 2-1 home defeat to Spain.

That was England’s first ever Uefa Nations League match, with their next game coming in the form of a friendly against Switzerland at Leicester’s King Power Stadium on Tuesday evening.

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