Declan Rice has been named the Republic of Ireland’s Young Player of the Year.
Yes, the defensive midfielder that has switched allegiances from the Boys in Green to the Three Lions and is in line to make his England debut in the upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers.
Nevertheless, the FAI have confirmed that the West Ham man was voted the top young Irish talent by members of the SSE Airtricity Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland, and will be honoured during an award ceremony on Sunday.
The voting did take place before Rice applied to have his FIFA registration altered, and came at a time the 20-year-old made his three international friendly appearances under Martin O’Neill.
Despite now being a registered England international, he will still be honoured by the Republic of Ireland, who wrote in a statement: “At the time of the vote, Declan Rice was an Ireland international and qualified for the Young Player category in a year that saw him win three senior caps.
“Declan Rice has since opted to switch his allegiance to England. The FAI has completed his international transfer via the FIFA protocols and wishes him well in the future.
“This award maintains the integrity of the voting process in conjunction with the Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland and the FAI thanks the jury members for their decisions relating to the awards.”
It has been noted that Rice will not be in attendance at the upcoming 29th FAI International Awards ceremony, but that was not enough to stop the London Stadium faithful from sharing their take on the surprising matter…
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