Ray Houghton heaped praise on West Ham midfielder Declan Rice and claimed that the 20-year-old had been a revelation this season.
The former Hammers player shared that to judge his chances of success for England then you had to analyse his form for Manuel Pellegrini’s side and pointed out that in his opinion Rice had been sensational.
Houghton reeled off several qualities that Rice had which impressed him and even added that he was impressed with the midfielder’s appearance for England on Friday.
“Well look you can only go on what you’ve seen this season from the lad at West Ham and he has been sensational, a revelation playing in that deep-lying midfield role,” said Houghton on talkSPORT (14:27, Sunday March 24th).
“He understands the game, also he’s a centre-half playing in that position so he sees dangers.
“He’s a great athlete that’s one of the attributes I noticed, he can get around the pitch, he’s good in possession, got good awareness, good peripheral vision and I watched him the other night when he came on, he got his body shape right and made the right pass at the right time.
“Kept it nice and simple.”
OPINION
Houghton was capped 73 times for the Republic of Ireland in his career so you feel he may not have been a fan of Rice jumping ship to England. Yet even if that is the case, the 57-year-old doesn’t let that blur his view of the Hammers player. Houghton just seemed to rattle off positive remark after positive remark about Rice and that is a testament to the player’s ability. It’s also hard to disagree with the pundit’s claim that Rice had been a revelation this season even though the 20-year-old played plenty of football for the Hammers in his 2017/18 campaign. While Rice impressed as a centre-back, he has been way more influential playing in midfield. The 20-year-old has been able to show off his passing range more and has even been able to venture forward more in order to get on the score sheet. Hopefully Rice is able to continuing wowing at the London Stadium this season as it would spell good news for the Hammers.
