Former Republic of Ireland captain Kenny Cunningham is confident that Declan Rice is committed to the cause.
The English born defender is one of five fresh faces included in the squad for the friendly with Turkey later this month.
The 19-year-old has been playing regularly with West Ham this season, having made 18 Premier League appearances so far.
Rice’s inclusion in the squad has failed to allay fears that the Londoner could switch international allegiance.
Kenny Cunningham worked with Rice in the Ireland underage set-up, and he is sure that the youngster is only interested in wearing the green jersey:
“No absolutely none whatsoever,” Cunningham told OTB:AM when asked if he had doubts about Rice’s commitment.
“I like the idea of bringing younger players to give them a taste of it, the motivation behind it is to medium to long term you genuinely see them being good enough to be part of the senior squad.
“Not ‘this fella there’s a chance he can jump to England in a year or two, let’s bring him in and make a pitch to him’ I’m no fan of that.
“There’s a lot of discussion around Declan Rice at the moment, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I hear people talk about ‘we got to convince him to play for Ireland’ and this type of thing, absolutely no chance.
“I’ve worked with Declan with the U19s. I’ve no questions about him, for me he was totally committed when he played with the U19s, he loved representing Ireland, he loved wearing the jersey.”
“It’s simple for me; Declan has represented us at U19 and U21level so for me he is committed.
You can watch the full chat between Keith and Kenny on YouTube.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/0dEYGgrZNUA" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
