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West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice has confirmed that he had rejected the opportunity to further his international career with Ireland in favour of representing England.

For now, my focus remains entirely on establishing myself as a Premier League player with West Ham United and working as hard as possible to improve and be successful.



So much has happened, so quickly, in the past couple of years, from progressing through the West Ham United Academy to making my Premier League debut at the age of 18 in May 2017 and then being named in a full international squad just two days later.



The London-born Rice is eligible to feature for both nations having represented neither in a competitive fixture, despite having featured for the Republic in a number of friendlies previously.

I have also spoken to Martin O'Neill and Mick McCarthy, Gareth Southgate and to friends and colleagues within the game whose opinion I respect.

Embed from Getty Images "This afternoon I telephoned both Mick McCarthy and Gareth Southgate to inform them of my decision to submit a written request to FIFA for the transfer of my international registration from the Republic of Ireland to England," said Rice via a statement posted on twitter.

I would also like to make it clear that, in requesting to transfer my national team representation, I am not taking for granted a call-up to the England squad or making any assumptions about my future international careen.