Arsenal U18 coach Jack Wilshere says the 'Golden Generation' of England players would've won the World Cup with West Ham captain Declan Rice in midfield.

Wilshere wrote for The Sun: "Declan won't get the headlines from this game and I understand that but, believe me, he is absolutely vital to England's progress in this tournament.

"I played with him briefly at West Ham and even back then you could tell what a great player he was going to be.

"People used to talk about 'The Golden Generation', when Stevie Gerrard and Frank Lampard were in midfield and would question why they couldn't do it for England together.

"If they'd had Declan holding behind them, we'd have won the World Cup.

"The way he breaks play up and organises the transition from defence to attack is different class.

"I was sitting with my Arsenal Under-18 team and telling them to study Dec and how he organises what I call a "resting defence" and gets everyone moving once we have the ball.

"There are few players in the world — if any — who do it as well as he does."