I had Declan Rice and Jack Grealish playing for the Republic of Ireland, but I didn't mind them defecting to England.

Former Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill insists he “doesn't care one bit” about Jack Grealish and Declan Rice's decision to defect to England at international level.

Grealish played for Ireland's under-17, under-18 and under-21 teams but turned down multiple call-ups to the senior squad from O'Neill when he pledged his future to England in 2015.

Like Grealish, Rice represented Ireland at various youth levels but also made three senior appearances under O'Neill, although all of those games were friendlies.

Rice was later able to represent another nation thanks to the FIFA rules of the time, which stipulated that players could change international allegiance if they played in three or fewer non-competitive matches.

Despite O'Neill's efforts, Rice chose to play for England in 2019.

If O'Neill, who managed Ireland between 2013 and 2018, had been able to handle both players, they would have had the backing of a vocal crowd in Dublin when Ireland take on England on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium.

However, the duo and England's interim coach Lee Carsleywho represented Ireland as a player on 40 occasions, You might get a cold reception.

Although O'Neill did his best to convince Rice and Grealish that they had an important role to play for Ireland, he knew that both, who had been born and raised in England, had their hearts set on representing the Three Lions.

Speaking about the controversy six years after leaving his role as Ireland manager, O'Neill claimed Rice and Grealish's decision had little impact on him but pointed out why both were justified in making that decision.

“Personally speaking, I couldn't care less,” O'Neill told Jim White and Simon Jordan on talkSPORT.

“Secondly, if I cared, I'd think Rice had chosen to play for England. What a terrible decision that was! He's been to a couple of Euro finals and the Republic of Ireland haven't won a single game.

“To be fair to Jack, Jack's dad is English. I at least picked Rice for three games, he played three international games at senior level for us. He played very well in the games.

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“I would have loved for him to have made that decision, but the decision was always to play for England. The same was true for Jack Grealish, who played for Ireland at youth level, but if it came down to it, he was always going to choose England.”

O'Neill's comments come two years after he passionately explained why there was little hope of Grealish and Rice ever committing their futures to Ireland.

“First of all, you can't force players to become international players. He played three friendly matches at senior level and was fantastic in those matches. It's as simple as this: Declan Rice “I wanted to play for England,” O'Neill told talkSPORT in 2022.

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“He was born in England, it really is that simple, you can't just take them into an international game, a competitive game, where the moment they play a competitive game for the country, they announce they are going to play for them.

“That was never going to be the case, you can't trick people into playing these games, you can't force them to do it.

“Jack Grealish was exactly the same, he was in my early stages of international management, I went to see Jack GrealishI went to see his father, Jack Grealish was born in England, and Jack Grealish played some youth football for the Republic of Ireland, which he loved doing.

“But then, when a decision had to be made, that decision was made by Jack Grealish and his father, his father is also English, you could also resort to inheritance, but that is what they wanted to do, and I am not going to disavow them from that.”

O'Neill also pointed out that the players themselves were fully aware of the guidelines around international eligibility, further highlighting why convincing Rice and Grealish to play for Ireland was going to be a difficult task.

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“The players know the rules and the parents of the players know the rules, it couldn't be simpler, so this idea of ​​accepting criticism for not coercing two players who now play for England,” O'Neill said.

“I wouldn't have done it, and Declan Rice would have been aware of it, so he wouldn't have done it.

“Yeah Gareth Southgate If I had said, 'Listen, son, you have no chance of making this team in the next five years,' there might have been a conversation, but that wasn't the case.”

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Since pledging his future to England, Rice has made 58 appearances for the Three Lions and has played a key role in helping the team reach the Euro 2020 finals and Euro 2024.

Although Grealish declared his intention to represent England in 2015, it was not until 2020 that he made his international debut.

He Manchester City The star has 36 caps for England but was controversially left out of former Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate's squad for Euro 2024.

Despite only starting one game this season, Grealish has earned a call-up to the England squad under Carsley as he looks to return to fitness.