POOR Declan Rice — at 20 years of age, he is almost a veteran!
We at West Ham are immensely proud our Dec is now a full England international having made his debut last week against the Czech Republic.
One really revealing statistic came out of the Three Lions’ 5-0 win . . .
When Callum Hudson-Odoi came off the bench in the second half at Wembley, it was the first time in 138 years that England had two 18-year-olds on the pitch at the same time in a full international.
At last we have an England manager who is not afraid to give the youngsters a chance.
Jadon Sancho turned 19 last Monday, while Hudson-Odoi doesn’t reach that milestone until November and both Londoners have glittering futures ahead of them.
But isn’t it a reflection of Gareth Southgate’s priorities that he is prepared to give them a chance, while others haven’t.
Sancho left for the Bundesliga to secure regular first-team football and Hudson-Odoi is considering the same.
The future does look rosy for England
Karren Brady
Clearly, Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri has to pick his best available team and it’s none of my business how he goes about doing it.
But Blues fans must be scratching their heads when their gifted teenage winger gets an England start before a league one.
The future does look rosy for England as we have been winning age-group World Cups recently and had seven players aged 24 and under in the squad for the Wembley game.
While other youngsters such as Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ruben-Loftus Cheek, Harry Winks and Joe Gomez would all have featured had they been fit.
Blimey, even man of the moment Raheem Sterling is still only 24.
My spies tell me Wolves teenager Morgan Gibbs-White, who helped England to win the Under-17s World Cup two years ago, won’t be far behind Sancho and Hudson-Odoi.
And there are others, in particular Manchester City’s impressive playmaker Phil Foden, another 18-year-old.
Hopefully, England can follow Spain, who dominated European and world football from 2008-2012, winning a World Cup and back-to-back Euro Championships.
Spain were perennial under-achievers internationally until then (just like us!).
But before that successful period, they began winning age-group tournaments.
Their manager gave youth a chance and . . . bingo.
Only a few months ago, we even won in Spain, inflicting on them a first competitive home defeat since 2003.
Southgate has a very sensible head on his shoulders and has urged club managers to look after their young stars, just as Sir Alex Ferguson did with the Class of 92.
It is good advice and let’s hope it works, as guiding youngsters whose lives are turned upside down, both financially and publicly, is never easy.
The racism the England players endured in Montenegro on Monday was a disgrace and the authorities have to come down hard on this — but a nasty form of prejudice then landed on Rice’s doorstep.
McClean’s memory must be failing him as he represented Northern Ireland Under-21s before opting for the Republic. Pretty dirty I’d say, Mr McClean
Karren Brady on James McClean
He is a big enough lad to defend himself but his decision to play for England ahead of the Republic of Ireland was his and his alone to make, no one else’s.
So for that renowned expert on world affairs James McClean (left) to aim a cheap shot at him — telling Declan to “sod off” — is pretty average behaviour.
McClean’s memory must be failing him as he represented Northern Ireland Under-21s before opting for the Republic. Pretty dirty I’d say, Mr McClean.
PS . . . after Match of the Day on BBC1 on Saturday night, Jack Sullivan’s Britain’s Youngest Football Boss is on.
It shows the highs and lows of running the West Ham Women’s team. I highly recommend it.
