West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice has gone down with a virus and will miss England’s clash with Bulgaria on Monday as a result, according to Football Insider.
The outlet claims that the 20-year-old is out of the European qualifier having missed training on Sunday due to an illness problem.
Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate is plotting to replace the Hammers star with Tottenham Hotspur stalwart Harry Winks, as he rejigs his original plans.
There are now worries that the youngster may not be fit for West Ham’s Saturday match up with Everton.
OPINION
This is a real concern for the Irons faithful. Manuel Pellegrini has leaned heavily on the young Hammers star this season, with the player having featured in every single minute of the team’s campaign to date. The Chilean doesn’t really have a top class replacement who can come in and do what Rice does in defensive midfield. The ostensible replacement is Carlos Sanchez, but the 33-year-old isn’t half the player the England international is. The Colombian is past his prime, and certainly wasn’t as good as Rice even when he was at his best. You’d think that between Monday and Sunday his condition would hopefully improve enough for him to be able to play against the Toffees, but that’s certainly not guaranteed. What this does is really hammer home just how painfully reliant the team are on Rice. Perhaps that’s something Pellegrini should look at moving forward, because Sanchez certainly isn’t the answer.
