Roy Keane has seemingly not forgiven Declan Rice and Jack Grealish after the pair rejected the chance to play for Republic of Ireland in favour of England.
Rice played three times for Ireland at senior level, before choosing to change his allegiance in February 2019, in favour of representing England. The 23-year-old was born in Kingston upon Thames, London, but could be selected for Ireland as his grandparents are from Cork.
Having pledged his future to the Three Lions, Rice made his England debut in March 2019 and has since gone onto flourish in Gareth Southgate's side, with the West Ham United midfielder playing in all seven matches at Euro 2020. Rice started for England in their 6-2 win over Iran in their World Cup opener on Monday.
Meanwhile, Grealish had featured for Ireland at youth level but rejected the chance to play for Martin O'Neill's side in 2015, as Roy Hodgson convinced him to pledge his future to England. But it took Grealish five years after that point to make his Three Lions debut - as a substitute in a 0-0 draw against Denmark in the Nations League.
When discussing the future of Jamal Musiala, who chose to play for Germany over England, Keane took a swipe at Rice and Grealish as he said that it is "nice for England to get a taste of its own medicine". Former Manchester United midfielder Keane met with Rice when he was Ireland's assistant but those talks weren't enough to convince him to avoid playing for the Three Lions.
He told ITV : "The media ask you a question and you make a joke with them but obviously he’s a kid, he’s learning his trade. What a place to be learning, he’s playing regularly but it’s nice for England to get a taste of its own medicine.
"They’ve taken players; Rice, Grealish - don’t get me started on that. When players make that decision it’s not easy and you have to respect that but wonderful talent, there’s still potential and we’re looking forward to seeing him."
Ian Wright added: "When you look at the amount of players who have chosen England over their own countries, we have to take it in our stride because you normally find they come to England because they have a better chance of doing well.
"He’s (Musiala) gone to Germany because, lets face it, they’re a better international footballing nation than us and he’s good enough at 19 to play for Germany. He’s born in Germany so he’s chosen he’s home country, let’s hope and pray he does his best. He’s being compared to Messi, he’s only trying to get his career started, but like Bellingham, unknown so you just wish him the best."
