Declan Rice pledges to hold talks with Mick McCarthy

Declan Rice has confirmed that he will meet Mick McCarthy to discuss his international future.

“Mick has spoken to my dad and I think Mick wants to meet me and my dad, which I said was fine,” said the West Ham midfielder who is eligible to play for both Ireland and England. “I haven’t spoken to Mick myself yet, but I’m going to speak to Mick. There is no date planned yet.”

Responding to reports of the player’s comments at yesterday’s Euro 2020 qualifying draw in Dublin, McCarthy smiled and said: “Good. You see, you’re more up to date than me. I told you at the press conference that I was going to meet him and that’s just what I’ll do. I’m delighted that’s what he wants to do because if he’d said that he didn’t want to meet, it would have been a problem.”

Asked about his interest in Rice, England manager Gareth Southgate, who was also at the Euros draw, said: “It’s a subject that’s being discussed. He’s a very good player. We’ve allowed him time to make his decision. We appreciate it’s a difficult one to make and we’ve given him time and space.”

For his part, Rice suggested at the weekend that he still has some serious thinking to do on the matter.

“There are a lot of things going on with my football at the moment,” he said after West Ham’s 3-0 win against Newcastle. “I’m playing here week in, week out, and obviously there’s my contract situation, which is a lot to take on at a young age. The England/Ireland situation is a lot to take on as well. I’m just focused on playing for West Ham and I said that to Martin O’Neill and he totally understood and respected that.”