John O’Shea heaped praise on West Ham Declan Rice as he appeared to past the torch to defender ahead of making his final Republic of Ireland appearance.
The 37-year-old, who has previously lifted the Premier League title five times, is set to win his 117th cap for his nation before retiring but took his opportunity when speaking ahead of the game to gush about Rice.
O’Shea tipped the Hammers teenage enforcer to be a future captain of his country and play European football in the near future but insisted everyone should enjoy watching him play now as well.
“He has that confidence, that comfort on the ball, you can see it – the ability and the type of personality that he has, it’s huge,’ said O’Shea in an interview with the Daily Mail.
“He’s a future captain way down the line, you can see it, without a doubt. Fingers crossed, he’ll keep progressing and play European football.
“But let’s enjoy him now as well – he’s playing Premier League, he’s coming over and loves being part of the squad, let’s enjoy that for the moment and enjoy watching him progress.”
OPINION
Rice has an amazingly bright future and it’s huge honour for him that O’Shea has more or less past him the torch when it comes to representing the Republic of Ireland. To be considered a future captain by a player who has won countless honours in the game is huge praise and for the defender to make such a huge claim about Rice’s potential should have him grinning from ear to ear. The 19-year-old made 34 appearances for the Hammers in 2017/18 season and hopefully he will continue to regular feature at the London Stadium under Manuel Pellegrini. While Rice may have made some headline grabbing blunders, see the mistake against Arsenal which David Moyes shone a spotlight on, the Hammers have to continue to regularly use him. The teenager will only learn from playing and more often than not, he is good enough for the first-team so it’s not worth loaning him out to get him regular football.
