Declan Rice has indicated that he had already made his mind up to play for England during the 2018 World Cup, just weeks after lining out for Ireland against World Cup winners France. He spoke of how the images of watching England reach the World Cup semi finals in 2018 had stuck with him. When asked if this was the time he was thinking about changing from Ireland, Rice replied: "Yeah, it was done then. "I remember watching the Panama game, the Tunisia game, Sweden game. But that was before an approach from Southgate, although the 22-year-old's latest comments suggest that a lot of Irish time and energy was wasted in the seven month period between the end of the World Cup and his final announcement.

Source: Irish Independent June 09, 2021 21:47 UTC