Dean Saunders claimed that West Ham midfielder Declan Rice will become better than Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson and Tottenham’s Eric Dier.
The talkSPORT pundit acknowledged that it would be harder for the Hammers midfield enforcer to earn caps for England but backed him to eventually be better than Henderson, who earns £140,000-a-week (Source: Spotrac), and Dier, who rakes in £60,000-a-week (Source: Spotrac).
Saunders heaped praise on Rice’s ability despite admitting that he disagreed with the fact Rice was able to pledge his allegiance to England after previously featuring for the Republic of Ireland.
“First of all I think he is a really good player and I think he is going to be really really good, he looks to me as if he could play centre-half or centre-midfielder and run the game, I think he is more mobile than Eric Dier and will end up better than Eric Dier,” said Saunders on talkSPORT (13:24, Saturday March 23rd).
“He has also got an eye for a goal up the other end, you can see with his mind thinking, on the other side of it I have to say he played three full internationals, he didn’t just play for the U-21s, so for me he has played U-16s,U-19s, whatever it is, all the way through the youth then the U-21s and the minute he decides to pull on the jersey for the full national team…you’ve made your decision, you’re Irish.
“You’re playing for Ireland for the rest of your life, the rules, basically what he has done is play for Ireland at every level, the U-21s, then played three full internationals and binned the country, that’s what he has done, it’s as blunt as that, that’s what he has actually done.
“So talking about his career and it’s better for him if he plays for England and he’s English, that’s not the point.
“No he’s still a young man (it’s hard earning caps for England) but he’ll be better than all of them (Jordan Henderson and Dier) for me.”
OPINION
Saunders clearly didn’t like Rice switching from Ireland to England but he also seems more annoyed that the rules allowed that move, rather than take it out on the player. The talkSPORT pundit is quick to point out and make it clear that he rates the 20-year-old even if his decision left him with a bad taste in his mouth. It’s hard to disagree with what Saunders states as while it’s clear that Rice is a fabulous talent, the fact he played three times for Ireland’s senior squad before becoming available for England just doesn’t seem right. However the Hammers midfielder has made his bed and needs to put any negative feeling resulting from his decision behind him. Rice appeared to do this when making his senior debut for England against the Czech Republic on Friday as he attempted to let his football do the talking. The 20-year-old showed glimpses of why Manuel Pellegrini trusts him to feature regularly for West Ham and will no doubt be eager to build on his performance sooner rather than later. However he does need to up his game in order to move ahead of Liverpool’s Henderson and Spurs’ Dier in the pecking order.
