West Ham manager David Moyes has urged his players to build their game around England midfielder Declan Rice. The 22-year-old will play his 150th Premier League game for the Hammers when they visit Crystal Palace on New Year’s Day.
West Ham United to Build their Team Around Declan Rice
This season Declan Rice has built on his Euro 2020 performances, attracting England’s leading clubs, but his contract runs to 2024, with the option of another year. The former Manchester United and Everton head coach David Moyes said: “Declan’s under a long contract so from that point of view we’ve not got a big panic on.”
The manager also said: “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.”
West Ham is in a strong position to retain the services of a player who will take over the club captaincy when Mark Noble retires at the end of the season. Moyes rates the player as one of the top players in the English Premier League at recovering the ball, thanks to his natural speed. The Hammers’ boss is also delighted that Rice has become a more consistent goal threat as he has already gone past his best seasonal total by scoring three goals this season with half the campaign remaining.
Though, there are improvements still to be made. The manager said: “If you break Declan down, you might look at really tidy players and say ‘I want you to become even better in your passing’.” “So you can look at Frenkie de Jong or Jorginho, but Declan Rice is a bit of an all-rounder, and there’s not much better.”