Rice is one of the best in the Premier League

Hammer Declan Rice is ranked the second-best defensive midfielder in the Premier League when it comes to recoveries, tackles and interceptions and joint first for dribbles.

On Friday David Moyes spoke to reporters on Declan Rice and his performance against Manchester City,

“His first half wasn’t good by Dec’s standards,” said Moyes. “Second-half performance he took it up, he drove the ball out for us, he took the ball out at different times.

“He’s improving, he’s getting better, he’s learning. When you’re in the team and you’re a young player it’s not easy, but you get judged very quickly. I think Declan is one of the players we are looking to be our main player and that’s why he’s getting selected for England.

“What we really want is a nice up and coming team with the potential to get better, hunger to improve as individuals. But then we need people to take it on and show what it means, Mark Noble is a great example of someone who can show exactly what the club does, how we work. Declan’s been here really since the start.

“But you want the young ones because they’re the ones who will pass it on to the next group. I hope Jarrod, Declan, and a few of the young ones we’ve got in at the moment [can do that].”

Claret and Hugh say:

Rice’s impressive form is likely to bring many admirers this summer from the top six clubs and these impressive stats underline that. David Moyes is reported only to be willing to part with his star player for bids of £90m and above and at the tender age of twenty-one and already in the England squad we could see a bidding war for the defensive midfielder no matter which division we find ourselves in next season.  No one wants Declan Rice to leave West Ham but we need to be realistic to understand when a player outgrows us and when it is time to cash in to get the maximum return.  Rice could be to West Ham what Gareth Bale was to Spurs. He was sold for £85m in 2013 with Christian Eriksen one of the players they bought with the money.