Three most expensive English players could have been playing for Ireland

Rice will soon become the third Three Lions star to be sold for more than £100million as his move to Arsenal edges closer.

Things could have worked out a lot differently as the trio could have been lining up for Ireland instead.

West Ham star Rice in fact featured three times for their senior side in 2018 before swapping for the Three Lions.

The 24-year-old had grandparents from Cork and initially made his international debut for Ireland.

As they were getting ready to build their team around him, however, he announced a switch to England and played in all seven matches at Euro 2020.

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Since his debut in 2019, he has featured 43 times for Gareth Southgate's side.

Real Madrid signing Jude Bellingham could also have been donning a green shirt, according to his dad, Mark, through a paternal grandmother.

Los Blancos will pay an initial £88.5m fee, with numerous add-ons set to take the deal to £115m, making him the most expensive British player in history.

Instead of playing for Ireland, the 19-year-old made his debut against them three years ago, in a 3-0 victory.

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Bellingham has even been seen wearing an Ireland shirt as a child, after his dad posted a picture online.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Mark tweeted: "This half Irish kid [Mark] is going to go online and watch his mixed race England U21 international son [Jude] make his competitive debut in the German Cup."

Another who could have easily been playing for Ireland is Manchester City star Jack Grealish, who City forked out £100m to sign last summer on a six-year deal.

The 27-year-old represented Ireland youth level, qualifying on both paternal and maternal sides, but switched to England at Under-21 level.

Ireland is an intriguing case as plenty of international stars qualified for the country, with many playing at youth level, before deciding to play elsewhere.

Martin O'Neill, coached both England stars Grealish and Rice during his time as Ireland boss before losing them both to Southgate.

O'Neill previously told Jim White and Simon Jordan on talkSPORT: "First of all, you can't coerce players into becoming international players, he played in three friendly games at senior level, he was terrific in the games, it's as simple as this: Declan Rice wanted to play for England.

"He's born in England, it really is as simple as that, you cannot just bring them into an international game, a competitive game, where the minute they play a competitive match for the country that's them announcing they're going to be playing for them.

"That was never going to be the case, you can't deceive people into playing these games, you cannot force them into that.

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"Jack Grealish was exactly the same, he was in my early stages of international management, I went to see Jack Grealish, I went to see his dad, Jack Grealish was born in England, and Jack Grealish did play some underage football for the Republic of Ireland, which he loved doing.

"But then when you have to make a decision, that decision was made by Jack Grealish and his father, his father's also English too, you might go back to heritage as well, but that's what they wanted to do, and I'm not going to disavow them of that."