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Declan: ‘The biggest game of my life’ (if selected :-) )

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Declan Rice is ready to show himself against the very best tonight declaring that he won’t be showing too much respect to class act Frenkie De Jong.

The young Iron is pushing for a start in the Uefa Nations League semi final against the Netherlands and is coming face to face with the £65 million Barcelona-bound Ajax star.

And ahead of the game Rice said: “He is a fantastic player. “I am relishing the chance to put myself up against him.

“You cannot give him too much respect on the pitch because that is when he starts to dictate the game.
“You have got to be dirty, up in his face and try and disrupt him from playing his game. I am sure as a team we will do well to stop the Dutch.

“This will be, if I am involved, the biggest game of my life. We are in the semi-finals against a great side.”

He added: “With the season I have had, most people would have seen that for a young age I have done really well. But this is another level. You are playing against world-class opposition and you need to be on your game.”

“I am just focused on what I have got to do for club and country. I have had to be mentally strong and I have been like that since I was a kid.”

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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