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Big boost for Rice as Burke goes on loan

RiceReece Burke is ready to join Bolton on a season-long loan after  Slaven Bilic is believed to have given the nod.

And it is now clear the Hammers central defensive set up will be left in the hands of Winston Reid, Angelo Ogbonna, James Collins, Declan Rice and Cheik Kouyate in emergencies.

It’s a huge boost for young Rice who skippered the Under 21s to promotion last year and appears to show that Slaven Bilic has decided he will be the fist of the academy products to make a serious impact at senior level.

Burke, meanwhile, will link up again with former Bradford City boss Phil Parkinson at newly-promoted Championship side Bolton after he rejected a queue of Championship clubs who wanted his services.

Burke endured a frustrating campaign last year as his spell at Wigan was limited to 10 league appearances due to a hernia problem.

 

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

10 comments on “Big boost for Rice as Burke goes on loan

  1. Plus we have Fonte.

  2. Have we sold Fonte then ? 😉

  3. Well, I think it’s a plus. Lol

  4. Am I missing something here? I’ve nothing against Rice, who has been outstanding for the U23s, but Burke has played competitive, hard football at Bradford and won just about every club award there. I know he had an injury hit season last year, but I’m amazed he’s not ahead of Rice in the centre back queue.

  5. Havng watched the two i have Rice well ahead of Burke as a plzyer..

    Burke will make a good living from the game but not in the Premiership.

  6. What about Fonte?
    Lazy Hugh!

  7. Crikey so Hugh forgot Fonte what do you want a firing squad sent out lol

  8. I must say I’m also very surprised Burke hasn’t been given the chance to understudy this season. His 21 now and you would have thought the ideal age to be on the bench and playing in cup matches. I couple of seasons ago I was able to catch a couple of the Bradford games when in Bradford on business and he was head and shoulders above anyone else, and he was only 19.I just cant understand why his not being given his chance.

  9. To my mind Declan is going to be head and shoulders above Burke as a player.Its easy to promote the virtues of our youngsters from afar but none of us see enough of them on a daily basis to really have a clue about where they are in their game…..
    There are men far more qualified than us to understand where they are in their game….

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