Manuel Pellegrini is refusing to get carried along on the wave of Declan Rice euphoria despite his obvious admiration for the teenager.
The Hammers boss rarely speaks about players individually and was this week moved to declare: “Declan is a very young player and he must know a lot of different things, learning about different players.
That appears to suggest of course that he must remain an active mentality in both defensive and offensive approaches to his game.
This could hardly be more the case than tomorrow when he is bound to lock horns with Eden Hazard…if selected of course!
Hazard has scored five goals this season and Pellegrini said: ‘Hazard is a very good player. Every year, he plays for Chelsea, and there was one year where he was the most successful player when Chelsea won the title.
After that, maybe the next season was not so good, but now he has returned to demonstrate why he is one of the best midfielders in the world.’
Asked about Hazard’s drop in form last season, Pellegrini replied: ‘It is impossible for me if I am not working there to give the reason why [he had a dip].
