Not sure what to make of him to be honest. When he looked set for an Ireland career I had him pegged as the next Paul McGrath. If he declares for England I'll rate him as the next Carlton Palmer.
Declan Rice
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Grealish has never played for the seniors. He can't switch twice so he can't go back.
Wales cap tie any young player that's half decent as soon as possible if they have dual nationality.
Ergo they've tied him. I never said he played. Rice doesn't have to play either.
Wales call up young players who are good enough to play for Wales. Calling up a teenager who is instantly a starter isn't cap tying for the sake of cap tying.
Both players have been approached by England just before they are competitively capped by us. They didn't have second thoughts on their own so England are indeed trying to tie them up.
What else are they doing?
I don't think Ben Woodburn is good enough for them at the moment but you have a point that the likes of David Brooks are.
There's a difference between asking a player if they want to declare and then earn their place in the squad with no guarantees that they'll ever play senior football and dangling the carrot of senior competitive international football in front of a young kid to get them on board.
No Peter, he diedIs that you uncle Ben?
He isnt popular with Irish reds at the minute
Looks a good player, but maybe if we gave some of our youngsters a chance they could be every bit as good.
He should stick to West Ham. Looks an alright player who has taken to the league well at his age but I don’t think he’s doing anything particularly to push for a higher level.
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Great. Now he's got his contract on terms as "England prospect Declan Rice", he can declare for Ireland!
The talk was he was going to announce his decision before the end of the year and then there were loads of reports last week that he was finally going to declare for Ireland but there's been nothing since. It would be massive if he was to stay, it would give McCarthy so much credit before he's even had a game because Rice just looks outstanding every time he plays.
He looks like an outstanding prospect. My incredibly naive wishful thinking was that he would prefer to negotiate his new contract as a future England international as it would add to his value as a young player. Once done, he's free to pick Ireland.
I don't really believe it though. He's good enough to play for England and the comedy show going on with the Ireland manager position is hardly likely to convince him. The only genuine hope Ireland has is his dad.
The papers as recently as last week seemed to be think he was going to declare for Ireland and McCarthy seemed to think that the chat he had with him went well so I think there's a decent chance (or at least I hope that there's a decent chance). I think that there probably is something in the suggestion that his future being more secure does play in to Ireland's hands, him being a potential England player would have helped him negotiate for more money but now that his contract is sorted that's no longer a factor in favour of him choosing England.
This guy looks a really good player from what I’ve seen of him. I had wondered about him for the Matic role long term
I really hope so but it's likely that optimism came from McCarthy/FAI's version of events. At the end of the day, only Rice will know the answer and there have been optimistic reports before.
Will surely choose Ireland. Not good enough for England. Raffle if he ever will. Guaranteed an Ireland spot
Excellent prospect. A shame he didn’t declare for Ireland from the off. I suspect his hesitation will forever work against him in an Ireland shirt if he does eventually declare for Ireland.
What does this mean? ‘He can’t switch twice’. I thought he could basically play for Ireland until he’s played for England. Are the rules that once you’ve ‘declared’, that’s it?
As far as I’m aware you can’t play for one nation up to 21 level and then officially declare for another nation, only to then switch back. Not 100% because the Home Nation rules are more complex but Grealish can’t play for Ireland now despite never have played for England seniors. Wilf Zaha did play for England seniors but not in a competitive fixture but switched alligience.
Sounds a bit strong. I mean, what’s a ‘declaration’ really? A post on Twitter?
Ireland will count as a foreigner if they tighten the laws on how many English players need to be in match day squads so from that perspective I wonder will he declare for England
I'm unsure of the rule but even if Rice plays for Ireland he is still English (he is eligible for Ireland through the grandparent rule, not nationality) so won't count as "foreign".
Imagine how low his self esteem would have to be to think he'll never be good enough for a nation that has not only handed Eric Dier nearly fourty international caps but also allowed him to captain the team on multiple occasions.
There's a process to go through on order to change nationality. I believe you're only allowed to do that once.
The stupid part about that rule is that a dual nationality player who has played under 21 for Ireland, then England cannot represent Ireland in senior internationals. A player who has only represented England can.
He has already declared for England, no? Thought he was in the same boat as Grealish.
Yeah it seems he will probably declare for Ireland. Thing is, I don’t really get the furore around him. He looks decent but nowhere near as good as some of the hype.
Looks decent from the few TV glimpses I had. Can’t make up his mind? Poor lad.
An official 'declaration' is filing your one time switch with FIFA. Once you've filed that then you can't switch back. Doesn't matter if you never get called up at all.
He's very commanding for a young player, already is the leader of that West Ham team. He's mature and uses the ball well but I don't see him as much more than a good premier league player.
Haven't seen him too much personally but a West Ham supporting mate told me that he is easily better than the young Michael Carrick so I was all for signing him.
I don't really see how that is stupid. Players shouldn't be allowed to just change back and forth willy nilly. What would be stupid is allowing them to play the qualifiers of Ireland's u21s and then play the tournament with England. Or have them play the u20s WC with Ireland and then a month later turn out for England at the u21s Euros. The one time switch is fair enough.
Ah okay. Thanks.
He’ll be at a top 4 club and starting in 18 months. He’s an outstanding footballer.
Obviously he’ll be dead to me if he declares for the English, though. He’s (hypothetically) a fecking rat.
Obviously he’ll be dead to me if he declares for the English, though. He’s (hypothetically) a fecking rat.
Cannonball was good but not a fan of his other stuff.
Well they shouldn’t be allowed to change ‘willy nilly’, but I think options should be on the table until they have a cap.
The likes of Kanouté representing Mali later in his career, or Shola Ameobi (unfortunately) representing Nigeria when he was 30 despite being England’s most ever-capped player at u21s at the time I think - this could never happen. You can only make a senior debut once, and that is irrevocable of course, but before that, think the rules are a bit strong.
I know what you mean but in reality the situation is often a player at 25-26 (or older) being courted by a national team.
Using Ireland/England as an example, those that were 50/50 in their younger days but got wooed by England and encouraged by those around them to switch cannot declare half a decade later for Ireland.
Those with an extremely tenuous link who were never even on the FAI's radar can declare later in their career for Ireland.
I understand the "pick and stick" thought process, but someone who has played underage football for a country should have more right to declare than someone who has no affinity but just wants to play in a major international tournament.
Getting James McCarthy vibes from an excited few here. The next Carrick was always a chuckle.
James McCarthy wishes he could declare for Belgium.
Yea, fair point there actually. I don't really see how any rule could be implemented though to kind of deal with those situations as it would become a bit of a grey area. Allowing switchbacks but without opening for constant switches. I think the one time switch is just used for the simplicity of it. But you're right, I didn't really think of it like that.
Someone like Jack Grealish does feel a strong connection to Ireland and he was forced to make a very difficult decision. I'd certainly welcome him back to Ireland if it was allowed. I certainly don't envy these lads making these choices, you almost instantly become an enemy of one of your nationalities which is a shame.