West Ham captain Mark Noble has revealed his influence on Declan Rice’s decision to choose England over the Republic of Ireland.
The 20-year-old midfielder decided to represent the Three Lions over Ireland, despite having played three times for the Republic.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Noble revealed the role of his own personal experiences in guiding his teammate.
He said: “I’ve spoken to Dec, we’re really close. He knows where I am if he wants to talk, but he’s such a level-headed young man. He knew what was coming, but he didn’t rush into things and buckle to peer-pressure.
“I said to him, ‘Look Dec, I had a chance and spoke to Ireland’, and for me it was that I grew up and played in all the England youth teams until the Under-21s, and I didn’t ever dream of playing for Ireland.
“That’s no disrespect to Ireland; they’re a fantastically proud nation – I’ve got a lot of family from there and you can imagine the pressure I got from my family.
“But I didn’t dream of playing for them. The thought of being chosen over an Irish player who had dreamed of playing for Ireland… that didn’t sit right with me.”
OPINION
Declan Rice couldn’t have asked for a better role model than Mark Noble at West Ham. The veteran midfielder is one of the finest exports that the academy have produced over the past couple of decades, and his style of play and no-nonsense tenacity that he embodies is not dissimilar to the youngster, and Rice could do worse than learning the ropes from his experienced colleague. Noble never quite made it to international level, although whether or not that was a fair decision is arguable, but Rice has everything at his disposal to become a real force for Gareth Southgate’s England setup, if he plays his cards right. You would expect him to get the nod sooner rather than later, and if he does, then the choice he made to abandon the Republic of Ireland will be quickly justified. Given how selfless he is, you would expect Noble to be there for Rice every step of the way.