Rice opens up on what he told Bellingham before Iran in team-mate sacrifice

He is certainly no old hand himself but Declan Rice is getting a close-up view of the future of English football … and is blown away by it.

Rice only turns 24 in a couple of months time but has long since established himself as one of the leaders in Gareth Southgate's squad.

And the West Ham captain is helping guide Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka along an international path that will stretch a long, long way into the future.

Not that they need much guidance because what is particularly impressive to Rice is the maturity shown by Saka, only recently turned 21, and Bellingham, not 20 until next June.

Bellingham's partnership with Rice is developing into the fulcrum of everything Southgate is trying to do and the Hammers midfielder continues to be impressed by his prodigiously talented team-mate.

Rice said: "We have played together four or five times now. I said to him in the tunnel: 'This is your stage, go and flourish. I'll be there behind you to sweep up and give you the ball for you to go and do your thing.'

"I know my role in this team. I am there to stand in front of the back four, protect, get on the ball and move it around. I feel like we did that really well. We had a game plan, stuck to it, and it worked. We don't want to get too ahead of ourselves. There is still a long, long way to go and we will stay level-headed."

Not only was Saka England's Player of the Year, he was the official Player of the Match in his first-ever World Cup appearance, having scored two fantastic goals in the 6-2 demolition of Iran.

While Saka was outstanding, there were many who thought the player who ran the game for England was Bellingham, who also managed to get on the scoresheet.

Saka has come back stronger after missing the final penalty in the Euro 2020 shootout against the victorious Italians at Wembley, leaving Rice to declare: "It is unbelievable what he's done. It says everything about his strength of character. You saw what happened last summer, everyone was with him then.

"He is flourishing with Arsenal, he is playing with a smile on his face. You see him around the training ground, he is the happiest person around the place. We are all so happy for him."

And Rice's sentiments were echoed by Southgate, who revealed that he had been so concerned after Saka - in the wake of Wembley - was the victim of horrible, racial social media abuse that he sought him out when the dust had settled.

The England manager said: "I've had a couple of long chats with him early in the season. He's had great support as well from Mikel and everybody at Arsenal, I think he's felt that from us as well.

"And of course he was England Player of the Year last year, so I think the most important thing he felt was the warmth from the fans.

"I was at Brentford the opening day of last season, where that was really heartwarming to see the response he got, and that would have helped him to put things into perspective."

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