Final heating up of the Rice age

The FAI have confirmed that Declan Rice has been named Ireland’s Young Player Of The Year, the announcement coming, with crushing irony, on the eve of what is expected to be his first call-up for England. It ought to be stressed that the West Ham player was still an Irish international when a panel drawn from the Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland voted him Young Player of the Year for the 3 FAI International Awards which take place on Sunday night and which will be broadcast live on RTÉ 2.

Rice had impressed for Ireland in earning three senior friendly caps in 2018 but, despite the efforts of then manager Martin O’Neill and his successor Mick McCarthy, he subsequently opted to switch allegiance to the country of his birth, a move which has since been ratified by FIFA. As a result, Rice is now in line to claim his first England cap, with manager Gareth Southgate reportedly set to include him in the squad he will unveil this week for their opening 2020 European Championship qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Montenegro.