Gareth Southgate confirms Irish under-21 international Declan Rice is on England's radar

England manager Gareth Southgate has confirmed that the FA have been monitoring Irish under-21 international Declan Rice with a view to persuading him to switch allegiance to the Three Lions.

The London-born defender has emerged as a regular fixture in the West Ham United side this season with 18 appearances in all competitions so far.

19-year-old is by some distance the youngest Irish player currently plying his trade on a regular basis in the Premier League, with Jeff Hendrick at 25 the nearest to his age.

The teenager is a key part of Noel King's under-21 panel and has already come onto the radar of senior international coach Martin O'Neill – who included him in a training camp in Fota Island last year.

Rice, whose grandparents hail from Cork, has shown no inclination that he is considering changing his allegiance.

However fans are understandably wary given the last English-born Irish teenager to emerge at Premier League level, Aston Villa's Jack Grealish, eventually plumped for England.

"He is somebody whom we know with our technical department," Southgate said in a briefing to the English press.

"We are across every young player and, of course, there are plenty of young players with dual nationality.

“Wales have several players who have been in our system and who have got caps. So we are always looking. We are aware of him, we are aware of his situation.”

However Southgate indicated that Rice's potential to come into consideration for England isn't so much in his purview as it is the FA's technical director, Dan Ashworth.

"It's more one for Dan Ashworth as technical director than for me as senior manager,” he said.

O'Neill – who signed a contract to remain as Ireland manager on Tuesday – has indicated he's likely to blood new players in March's friendly with Turkey in Antalya where he will likely run a closer eye over Rice.