Sir Geoff Hurst has suggested that West Ham midfielder Declan Rice will be important for Gareth Southgate’s side at this summer’s European Championships.
The midfielder spent a few years as an academy player for Chelsea before he joined West Ham in 2014.
Rice made his Premier League debut for the Hammers on the final day of the 2016/17 season against Burnley at Turf Moor.
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The Englishman established himself as a regular for the Londoners during the 2017/18 season. Since then, he has totted up 140 appearances in all competitions. This included 126 games in the Premier League.
Rice has been one of West Ham’s best players over the past couple of years. This has fuelled talk that he could depart in a big-money deal. Chelsea and Manchester United have been among those linked with him in recent months.
After representing the Republic of Ireland at a senior level in 2018, Rice changed his allegiance to represent England instead. He made his Three Lions debut in March 2019 against the Czech Republic at Wembley.
He has now been capped 13 times by England. His first international goal came against Iceland in the Nations League in November 2020.
Rice has been a mainstay for the Hammers this season having already played 30 times in all competitions. He has been named in Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
The 22-year-old is in line to play a significant role for England at this summer’s European Championships.
Hurst told FourFourTwo that Rice has been “fantastic” for a couple of seasons for West Ham now:
“What a season it’s been for him and West Ham. Players get selected sometimes because they’re in a team that’s doing well as opposed to them doing well [individually] – but I don’t think you can level that at Declan, he’s been fantastic for a couple of seasons in the position he plays.
“That position’s very important in terms of stopping the opposition playing, maybe marking someone if he has to, setting things up. He’ll be there alongside one of the other lads, one of the more creative players.”
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