West Ham United manager David Moyes believes that Hammers captain Declan Rice is good enough to play in Manchester City’s best 11.
The Hammers head to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night looking to pick up points in their game in hand over the rest of the Premier League’s bottom six, currently sitting just four points clear of the bottom three with only five matches remaining in their 2022/23 Premier League campaign.
There has been much talk over the long-term future of Hammers captain Rice, who has been heavily linked with a summer exit to City’s Premier League title rivals Arsenal this summer, while Chelsea are among the other clubs who have also been linked.
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In a recent debate on talkSPORT, it was suggested that no player from any other current Premier League team would get into Manchester City’s best 11, with everyone fit and available.
However, one player who could be a contender is Rice, given he reached the 200 Premier League appearance mark on Saturday, becoming only the sixth West Ham player in Premier League history to do so.
Asked if Rice would get into Manchester City’s best side, if he played for them, Moyes said that while Rice is still young and still improving, he thinks Rice could play for any club in world football.
“Declan is improving all the time,” said Moyes. He’s still young, and he’s got a long way to go, but he’s improving.
“He’s earned his right to play for England and every time he’s come back from playing for England, I’ve seen someone new – with more confidence, with more about his game.
“He’s got leadership and things which will improve with age and time. But overall, he’s been very good. Declan could play for any club. No doubt about that.
“He can play different roles as well. He could quite easily fill in as a defender if required. He could play as an attacking midfield player. He could play as a No 6. He’s got the ability to play in several different roles.”
Rice faces the task of trying to shackle City’s midfield when the two sides meet on Wednesday, a midfield that not only contains the world class stars of Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan, but also has the inverted full-back roles stepping into midfield, something that has been shown recently by England international centre-back John Stones.
Moyes said that Rice and his West Ham colleagues face a tough test, but hopes to spring another upset on them, having knocked them out of the Carabao Cup last season.
“It’s very hard because they’ve got the ability to make you not be in the position you want to be,” Moyes added. “They’re so good.
“I watched them on Sunday. But hey, that happens. We see games in cups not always won. So we’ve got to go into it with a hope and an idea that we can get a result.”
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