The manager of West Ham United, David Moyes plans to build the Premier League team around Declan Rice who he believes is among the finest ball recovery players in the world.
Declan Rice is one of the most sought-after midfielders in the world even though West Ham United through coach Moyes insisted that the English midfielder is not for sale.
The 22-year-old English defensive midfielder who is a product of the Chelsea and West Ham United youth system has scored three goals and provided three assists in 23 games in all competitions this season.
Aside from his ability to score goals and provide assists despite playing mostly as a defensive midfielder, he can run at defenders and recover possession for his team.
These abilities have not only attracted the interest of top European clubs, including Chelsea, but it has also established him in England’s national team since March 22, 2019.
His efficiency has earned the 22-year-old midfielder 149 Premier League appearances already and he is expected to be worth over 100 million euros in the transfer market next summer.
Ahead of the Premier League match between West Ham United and Crystal Palace scheduled to kick off at 18:30 later tonight, coach Moyes insisted that the club intend to keep Declan Rice as long as possible.
The coach said West Ham are not afraid that they might lose Rice who still has until June 30, 2024, before his contract expires.
“Declan’s under a long contract so from that point of view we’ve not got a big panic on,” said Moyes.
“We’ve no intention of selling him and I’ve said already many, many times, if we ever had to, it would be a shoot to the moon.
“My job is to keep building the club and the level up. We need players around Declan who are at a similar level. He has been a revelation for us this season and hopefully, he keeps driving the team on.”
Despite how good Declan Rice has become, coach David Moyes has identified aspects of the footballer’s game that needs improvement.
While noting that not many midfielders are better than Rice in world football, coach Moyes said the English star needs to improve in his passing.
The coach said: “I think if you break Declan down, you might say: ‘Well OK, I want you to become even better in your passing’.
“So you can look at Frenkie De Jong or you can look at Jorginho. You could look at people who are really, really tidy football players.
“But then if you looked at the other side of the game, Declan’s as good as anybody I know at recovering the ball, and speed around the pitch. I can’t really think of many other midfield players like Declan in that mould really.
“Rodri’s slightly different in how he plays differently. But Declan’s a wee bit of all-around, and certainly can do different things and he’s beginning to add goals to his game.
“There’s probably not much better, but I think there are aspects of Declan’s game that he can improve. We want him to become better at so many things, but he’s been a revelation for us this season.”
West Ham United are currently occupying the 5th spot with 31 points in 19 games, on equal points with 6th placed Manchester United which have a game in hand.
David Moyes has had his say on the festive fixture debate 🎄 pic.twitter.com/N61OLiQus9
— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) December 31, 2021
