Manuel Pellegrini heaped praise on West Ham teenager Declan Rice ahead of his taking on Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
The Hammers boss shared that he thought the 19-year-old defender, who is currently being deployed in midfield, had a lot of potential and shared that he is constantly talking to him.
Pellegrini shared that Rice was very tactically mature and listens while also adding that you can see his improvement since the season began.
“Declan has a lot of potential,” said Pellegrini during his press conference on Thursday, as quoted by Football.London.
“He is tactically very mature, listening, trying to do what he thinks is best.
“Declan, we always talk to him, he knows he can still improve. If you compare the first game of the season to now, he is improving more and more.”
OPINION
Rice was destroyed in West Ham’s opener against Liverpool and looked out of his depth in midfield. However since that potential confidence shattering performance, Rice has been one of the club’s standout performers. In fact it could be argued that if the Hammer of the Year award was given out tomorrow that the teenager would easily be the winner. Rice was very good at centre-back last season but since moving into midfield, he has looked even better. The 19-year-old looks comfortable with the ball at his feet and his passing is top-notch. Given that Rice has always appeared to be a strong tackler of the ball, he has made the Hammers look more sturdy in midfield this season. As for Pellegrini’s remarks on him, it’s good to hear that Rice is listening to the manager’s advice, as well as his coaching staff’s words, as it means he likely to fulfil his potential.
