Backing: Declan Rice with Myles Lewis-Skelly
Declan Rice said he first suggested Arsenal team-mate Myles Lewis-Skelly could become England’s first-choice left-back last year - and was mocked for it.
Lewis-Skelly was handed his first senior England call-up last week and rewarded new head coach Thomas Tuchel for his faith on Friday night by scoring in a man-of-the-match debut as England won 2-0 against Albania at Wembley.
The 18-year-old shone in the World Cup qualifier win and was lauded by Tuchel after the game.
Left-back has been a problem position for England, with Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell enduring injuries and dips in form in recent years, while Lewis Hall has been sidelined with injury to miss out on Tuchel’s first squad.
Asked whether Lewis-Skelly can make the position his own, Rice said of his Arsenal team-mate: “I said about it before Christmas, and a lot of people laughed at me and questioned it and said I was speaking out of turn by saying good things about him.
“But week on week he’s shown how good he is, and the fearlessness he has in his performance.
“That’s on him — how much you want it and how much you want to keep going. He needs to be hungry every day.”
Rice added: “He needs to keep being himself around the training ground at Arsenal, around England, and keep pushing himself.
“He’s an asset for us now. He’s 18 years old and has got a long career in the game if he keeps doing good things.
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“He didn’t even know he was going to be starting until today and I just knew he was going to have a good performance, because he has that belief in himself.”