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Declan Rice could be given his England debut at Wembley on Friday after opting to switch allegiances.

The West Ham midfielder is waiting for the nod with Jordan Henderson battling to overcome an ankle injury. And that could herald the start of a brave new world for England as they attempt to leave no stone unturned when it comes to dual-nationality players.

Rice was eligible for Republic of Ireland and played for them at youth level and in three senior friendlies before accepting England’s call.

Southgate chose not to call up Crystal Palace ’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka even though he is eligible for Congo; Angus Gunn has opted to play for England despite being eligible for Scotland; and Jack Grealish opted to play for England rather than Ireland.

And England have been told dual nationalities will become even more of an increasing issue with the next generation as, incredibly, it has been claimed that 55 of the 75 under-15s players on the FA radar can play for other countries.

(Image: Eddie Keogh for The FA/REX)

It means that England will have to be more pro-active in attracting players as ex-FA technical director Dan Ashworth insists England should be more open minded and make sure they “do not restrict themselves as a recruiter.”

Ashworth, who is now at Brighton , said: “It generates great debate. ‘If they are not born in England, they can’t play for England!’ You look at other sports and other countries, and you want to recruit from the biggest pool you possibly can.

“You would not want to restrict yourself as a recruiter. You need to make sure you have got as big a pool as possible of people who are eligible through the rules and regulations – your ‘grandparenting rule’.

“The rules are there for a particular reason and every other nation is using those rules to expand their pools of players. Why isn’t England? That would be my view. If the player is eligible and he wants to play for England – why not?

(Image: Eddie Keogh for The FA/REX) (Image: Eddie Keogh for The FA/REX)

“I know that would cause some stir, so you tell me what you think the eligibility rules to play for England should be: do you have to be born here?

“Diversity of the population in England means that we have 75 under-15s on our radar, our ‘long list’ and 55 of them have dual or more nationality and are eligible for more than one country. That could be Scotland, Ireland and Wales as well, but the diversity of our country is thankfully changing.

“That gives us a bigger and better pool of players to pick from but it also brings words of warning to governing bodies and national associations: don’t assume they are locked into your particular nation because like in club-land, there might be more suitors looking at them as well.

(Image: Eddie Keogh for The FA/REX)

“The days are gone with the big clubs that they say, ‘We are Club X so they should want to play for us!’ It is the same with England. We cannot be arrogant enough to assume that if you are living in England you automatically want to play for England over any other country.

“A lot of people have got a lot of different ties, emotions. Smaller nations might be able to offer a different pathway to a bigger nation, just like a smaller club might be able to offer a different pathway to a bigger club when you are signing a young player.

“You have got to make sure you treat people right, make them feel welcome, explain what the pathway is going to be and ultimately, one of the commitments we have as a coaching team is that the player should be desperate to come back.”