West Ham fans will LOVE what Declan Rice said about Tottenham after making England debut

The Hammers midfielder was handed his debut by Gareth Southgate when he replaced Dele Alli in the 5-0 win over the Czech Republic.

Rice has been arguably West Ham’s best player this season under Manuel Pellegrini, which earned him a call up to the England senior side.

The young midfielder announced in February that he’d informed Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy that he has decided to represent the country he was born in.

The 20-year-old followed in the footsteps of Bobby Moore, Sir Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, Michael Carrick, Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard when he made his bow on Friday evening.

Speaking to his club in an interview after the match, Rice was asked what was going through his mind when he stepped out to warm up at Wembley.

His cheeky response will have had West fans in stitches, it also speaks volumes about how much Rice is enjoying himself at the moment.

“I thought ‘we beat Spurs here last season!’” he said.

“I was here last season and I knew what the feeling would be like.

“It was unbelievable! Just to step out now with the England players and I knew that i might get the chance to step out onto the field and show them what I can do.”

Rice also revealed the final set of instructions Southgate gave him before he entered the fray.

He added: “I probably won’t think about it for a couple of days and then it will hit me.

“The manager just pulled me over and said: ‘look, go out there and do what you’ve been doing for your club. You deserve this and go out there and do what you’ve been doing.’

“Obviously, Raheem [Sterling] scored and then he said: ‘You know what, go and enjoy it even more.’ That’s what I tried to do and to win 5-0 was special.

“It was a really good introduction. I just wanted to go on and steady the score. I was lucky enough to have [Jordan] Henderson and [Ross] Barkley next to me. It was really good.”

Chelsea youngster Callum Hudson-Odoi was also handed his senior debut on what was a perfect evening to the UEFA Nations League finalists.

“You see tonight he gave Callum Hudson-Odoi his debut as well. He is not afraid, and I think that is really good for the young English players coming through,” Rice concluded.

source: express.co.uk