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20th March 2018
08:27am GMT

“Not at all. England have never wanted me at under-age level, it’s always been Ireland. I’m fully focused on playing with Ireland. We’ve got an important Under-21 game coming up and if I think about that [stuff] too much, it will start to take me off my football. I let my dad deal with that. Not me." “To get called up here by Ireland… my nan and granddad are from Cork and they sadly passed away, so for me to be playing now – and they watched me when I was Under-16 – to be playing for Ireland now, they’ll be looking down on me very proud. My family are very happy that I’m playing with Ireland.”Rice's future wasn't always so positive. He was released by the Chelsea youth academy in 2014 but has revealed that former Blues captain John Terry helped him by calling him and offering some words of comfort during an uncertain period. "Me and John Terry are really good friends," he said. "When I got released from Chelsea, he gave me a call and we spoke for about 45 minutes. I told him I was going to West Ham.
"He was my idol growing up and to ask him a load of questions and for him to answer them back, I'll always remember that call. We live locally to each other and now and then we meet up. We met the other day and we had a catch-up, and he's always going to help me and pass on his experiences."
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