MARTIN O’NEILL INSISTS he has not given up hope of Declan Rice sticking with his original decision to represent Ireland at international level.
The 19-year-old, who has impressed for West Ham in the Premier League this season, has earned three caps for the Boys in Green in friendlies.
However, Rice is now considering his future, and has reportedly met with England boss Gareth Southgate as he contemplates switching allegiance to the country of his birth.
With the player again absent from Ireland’s 36-man provisional squad announced earlier today for upcoming games against Northern Ireland and Denmark, O’Neill said there had been no significant change from the situation last August, when it was originally announced that Rice had made himself unavailable for selection amid interest from England.
A number of stories on the topic have emerged in the past few weeks, with the most recent reports suggesting Rice was likely to declare for England. O’Neill, however, was not ruling out his return, suggesting the player and his family were unlikely to announce their intentions imminently.
“It will be his decision,” O’Neill said. “He’s got a lot of things to consider. A lot of those might favour England, some of the circumstances. But overall, I’m still hopeful.
I’ve been talking to his Dad and they will make the decision at the end of the year.”
The Derry native rejected suggestions he could have capped Rice in a competitive fixture before now. Critics have identified the Moldova World Cup qualifier last year as a missed opportunity to blood the starlet, but at that stage, he had only played a handful of games in the Premier League and throwing him in for a match Ireland needed to win may have been deemed a risk.
“I couldn’t have capped him any more quickly, because there wasn’t that opportunity,” O’Neill said. “Secondly, like everything else, it’s the player’s decision. I know I keep emphasising this, but it’s important to emphasise it, because he would have been in the squad for our opening competitive fixtures. He played some friendly games and done very well in the matches.
“There’s a realisation that the minute you play competitively, that’s it. And he was well aware of that. That’s why he chose not to participate at the time — he wanted more thinking time, which is really understandable, considering where he was born.”
The Ireland boss continued: “I think everything possible has been done — we played him in matches. He has yet to play for England at this moment and there seems to be a lot of comparisons with young Grealish. Jack Grealish was born in England, his father was born in England and he chose to play for England, and that was entirely his choice. Whether it’s the right choice or not, time will tell.
“But in the case of young Declan, Declan’s played senior football for us, albeit friendly games. There might be a change of ruling then — but that’s a totally different subject.
I think we all felt Declan might have come through immediately — I think he enjoyed his time at [Ireland] U21s and certainly enjoyed it at senior level. And he made a very good impression. But I always said that these issues are far from cut and dry.
“He has what I would call soulful decisions to make, but he also has to consider other issues — he would accept that it’s more difficult to play for England than for us, but the enhancements that go along with it, all those things have to be considered in this day and age.
“I’m not in every single moment waiting up and wondering what it’s all about. I hope that he will come and play for us. He could play for the next 10-12 years, that would be great for him, but he’s got things to consider and that’s fine — whatever decision he comes with, I’ll abide by it.”
Originally published at 19.46
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