Declan Rice is in line for a call-up to Gareth Southgate’s squad for next month’s European Championship qualifiers after deciding to switch his international allegiance from the Republic of Ireland to England.

The decision is expected but the timing of it, with a written request submitted to Fifa, means that Rice should give Southgate enough time to include him for the fixtures against the Czech Republic and Montenegro.

The 20-year-old called both Southgate and Ireland manager Mick McCarthy and released a heartfelt and thoughtful statement to explain his decision. Rice was born in London but is eligible for Ireland as his grandparents are from Cork and he played all his junior international football for them.

“Declan rang me today and said he has decided to give it a go with England. Good luck to him,” McCarthy said.

The West Ham United defender-cum-defensive midfielder was given his senior Ireland debut by former manager Martin O’Neill in a friendly international against Turkey last March but because he did not make a competitive appearance he is able to switch to England. Rice has applied for a “change of association” under Article 18 of Fifa’s statutes.

The decision is a serious blow to Ireland although there was an expectation that Rice was always going to switch to England. In his statement he described himself as having a mixed nationality and how it had been “an extremely difficult decision”.