Declan Rice committing his international future to England was never going to go down without some criticism, and Graeme Souness is one who cannot see how he came to his decision on pure footballing reasons, the former Liverpool ace revealed to Virgin Media Sport Ireland.
Souness was speaking on Rice’s international future while acting as a pundit for the Irish channel’s Champions League coverage on the day the defensive midfielder opted against following through with his progress with Ireland on the international stage.
Rice has explained that he is not taking an immediate call-up to Gareth Southgate’s side for granted and that it was an extremely difficult decision to reach, but Souness believes the decision was still not down to purely footballing reasons.
Souness told Virgin Media Sport: “When you go and play for your country you get caught up in it, the national anthem and you’re proud to wear that shirt with the badge on it.
“I look at that statement and it just oozes that his advisers are telling him ‘for you to fully cash in on your career over the next ten or 12 years, you’re better being an English international’.
“You’re more valuable to whoever may be interested in using you in some sort of advertising way. You’re more valuable to them if you’re wearing an English shirt than an Irish shirt.”
