David Moyes is probably in a better position than anyone to judge Declan Rice’s progress this season after launching him into the first team last season.
He used him on 35 occasion essentially as a central defender which wasn’t without its mishaps and there was some discontent from fans when he publicly called him out after a couple of mistakes.
However, that he gave him his breakthrough will always be remembered by the fans who have now seen him develop into the finest defensive midfielder in the Premier League.
And it’s a position which Dec himself has made in recent interviews is the role he is looking at as being his future in the professional game.
However, he did a lot of growing up under the Scot learning the top level game in what was basically a not to hot West Ham team.
Moyes meanwhile has now given his view of where the player is now joking on BBC Radio 5 Live : “I was hoping he was Scottish than Irish or English, to be honest.
“Declan has a terrific attitude, he was always going to do good things in his career, no matter what.
“But I have got to say, he has been exceptional this year. I do believe watching a lot of football, he is playing as well as any midfield player in the country, at this moment in time.
“He played quite a lot for us last season as a centre-half and as an 18-year-old centre-half in the Premier League, it’s very difficult and he made a few mistakes.”
He is on a very steep upward learning curve, playing with players like Nasri and Lanzini should accelerate that and with a manager like Pellegrini well the futures bright long may he stay COYI !!!
I was one who thought that Moyes should have been given a chance – I am happy to admit that I was wrong and Pelle is definitely an improvement.
However I can only admire the class of Moyes – I have never heard him utter any criticism of the club or try to take the credit or give any backhanded compliments (unfortunately I cannot say the same about BFS)