Former England international Ian Wright has backed West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice for a Three Lions call-up and says he is better than Tottenham Hotspur’s Eric Dier.
The 20-year-old is widely thought to be in contention for next week’s England squad after switching his international allegiance from the Republic of Ireland, and Wright believes he is undoubtedly worthy of the honour.
“Yeah, yeah,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live when asked if Rice should be called up. “It’s a position that we struggle to fill, we haven’t really got that player who can naturally do that role as good as we’re seeing Declan Rice do it at the minute.”
Chris Sutton then queried if Wright thought Rice was better than Dier, to which Wright replied: “Yeah, especially in that position, of course. Plus, Eric’s not playing at the moment, unfortunately for him. He’s ready to go, I say bring him in and let’s have a look. He looks like he has got everything.”
OPINION
Rice certainly seems like he has shown over the course of the season that he is more than good enough for an England call-up. In terms of central midfielders there aren’t many better in the Premier League, let alone English ones. The other players at his position likely to get a call-up are Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson, Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Winks and Chelsea’s Ross Barkley, all of whom play slightly further forward than Rice. In terms of a specialist holding midfielder it’s him or Dier, and there’s no doubt that Rice is more deserving of a call-up than his Spurs counterpart at this moment in time. Whether that means he’s a better player than Dier is a matter of personal opinion, but he is the undisputed best option for England in terms of a pure defensive midfielder at the moment. Having him in the Three Lions team would allow the likes of Barkley, Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard to flourish further up the pitch, so he seems like he’s a shoe-in next week.
