O'Shea says he never indulges in Rice 'what ifs'
John O'Shea played alongside Rice for the Republic of Ireland before the then West Ham midfielder opted to switch allegiance to the country of his birth
- Published
Republic of Ireland assistant boss John O'Shea insists he has given no thought to what effect Declan Rice would have had on the team had he not switched allegiance to England.
Arsenal's Rice, who represented the Irish in three friendlies in 2018 before opting to play for the country of his birth, is in line to face his former international side in Saturday's Nations League opener in Dublin.
Former Republic of Ireland Under-21 player Jack Grealish is also in the England squad for the Aviva Stadium contest.
Asked if he ever wondered 'what if', O'Shea - who played alongside Rice for Ireland - replied: "No, not at all.
"Look, it's one of them - it's a focus on us, the players that are here, the players that want to be here. It's as simple as that.
"He's not here, he's in the England squad so you can't keep talking about it."
England have 'lot of threats'
O'Shea said that the Irish, under new boss Heimir Hallgrimsson, can't afford to become preoccupied with Rice given the array of talent in the England squad.
"When you play a team that have just been in a Euros final, you know they have lots of threats, they have lots of options to pick from.
"The full focus from our point of view is what we can do to stop them and more importantly, what we can do to cause them problems."
The connections between the squads is further increased by ex-Republic of Ireland midfielder Lee Carsley now being in interim charge of the England side.
Carsley has stepped up from the Under-21 side following the departure of Gareth Southgate and has an opportunity to stake a claim for the role full-time.
"It's nothing for us to worry about," reiterated O'Shea.
"Our focus is on the start of the Nations League, the manager coming in, Heimir, and that we give him our full backing, our full support, and hopefully get off to a good start."