Ever since making his debut for West Ham last season, midfielder Declan Rice has grown with rapid strides.
This season he has caught the attention of many and at one point there was a mad scramble in order to bring him on.
First, it was West Ham who wanted to pin him down by making him sign a new deal and then it was Gareth Southgate who wanted to lure him to play for the Three Lions.
As things stand both these things have been achieved and right now Declan Rice is part of the England squad who are on international duty.
Despite being just 20 years old, the midfielder is more or less a regular starter for the Hammers and right now his biggest focus will be to penetrate that strong midfield that Southgate has.
And speaking about this same thing, Declan Rice has gone onto reveal who his main competitors for a place in the starting XI would be.
“Competition is healthy as well but because everyone gets on, there is no animosity and competition is good,” he said.
“We’ve got all these players here from top clubs and people might think there is that rivalry but that’s all forgotten about and it’s one big family, to be honest.
“Obviously, Eric and I have been up against each other in training position-wise and he works really, really hard. Training against Henderson, he’s a proper leader, working really hard and talking, so everyone has got to put in a shift.”
Both Eric Dier and Jordan Henderson are current favourites of the England boss but Declan Rice has that attacking spark which the duo do not have in abundance.
And this is the one quality which might force Southgate to select Declan Rice ahead of Henderson or Dier for the next couple of matches.
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