Manuel Pellegrini has made it clear that Declan Rice remains some way from the finished article and has some improvement to fins.
Despite the 19 year old being and remaining the talk of the London Stadium, the manager believes he still he needs to learn.
The manager’s assessment of players is not something with which many would argue after seeing the likes of Felipe Anderson, Robert Snodgrass, Fabian Balbuena and Issa Diop develop this term and if he reckons the teenager is a on a learning curve and that he must improve there’s little point in arguing.
Dec is naturally a central defender so it comes with the territory that as good as he may be slotting into the role of defensive midfielder needs great craft and guile.
And whilst the manager admits he’s an admirer of the player he has had no hesitation in making his points about his game is at the moment.
Pellegrini started by declaring on www.whufc.com:”Declan has a great future adding: “He’s a very mature player for 19-years-old and it’s not easy. He needs to learn a lot about how to play better in that position.
“But in every ball, he gives his all for 95 minutes. He has good recovery and a good technique, so I think we are seeing a player who we will talk about a lot in the future years.
“I think that he must try to have a better technique. He plays in a tactical position, maybe the most tactical position on the team because he must be involved in defending and covering all the space in front of the defensive line and on the other side he must adapt with good technique.
“I think he must have both things and he will do it better with every game he plays.
“Every player who is here has good people around them. As with every player, I think he must continue to try and improve with every game he plays.”
“I think he has a very good relationship with me and he understood I was just arriving and we needed to make a change and he didn’t have any problem.”
