Declan Rice answers James McClean's 'overrated' comments and offers up 'bitterness' reasoning

Declan Rice has addressed James McClean's recent criticism by reflecting on his decision to switch international allegiance from Ireland to England. During RTE's analysis of England's Euro 2024 campaign, McClean labelled his former Irish teammate Rice as "overrated" and dismissed him as "not world class."

Ahead of England's concluding group fixture against Slovenia, Rice suggested that McClean's comments were driven by "bitterness towards me not playing for Ireland", reports the Irish Mirror. Rice, who played three friendly matches for Ireland against Turkey, France, and the USA, was still eligible to represent England, a move he made following Gareth Southgate's invitation in 2018.

In response to McClean's remarks, Rice stated: "Do you know what? I played with James for Ireland for three games and I got on with him really well. I am not going to sit here and slag him off. I thought he was a really top guy.

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"When I left Ireland to come to England, I heard a few things he was obviously not happy about. He made comments a few years ago. It is what it is. I am not going to sit here and say anything about him. He's had a great career himself - I think he is coming to the end of his career now and he's got over a hundred caps for Ireland.

"It would be easy for me to sit here and say something back to him but, like I said, we are at opposite ends of our careers now - he's 35 and I'm 25. I've known him, I've played with him, he's entitled to his opinion and I've had to fight a load of those opinions from other people before.

"It might be a bit of bitterness towards me not playing for Ireland but I've not got a bad word to say about him, to be honest. I see the comments but I don't try to put too much energy into it. It is what it is and you move on. You live and learn."

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