West Ham owner David Gold has heaped praise on youngster Declan Rice after his match-winning performance against Arsenal on Saturday.
Rice, who has just turned 20 today, scored his first goal and secured all three points against West Ham’s city rivals at the London Stadium.
Gold said it was a “terrific goal” and said it would be the “first of many” for West Ham.
He sent the message on his personal Twitter page on Monday morning.
DeclanRice is twenty today. Happy Birthday Declan terrific goal on Saturday against Arsenal first of many have a great day. dg pic.twitter.com/2bZ090p3hy
— David Gold (@davidgold) January 14, 2019
OPINION
It took Gold and co long enough to sort out a new contract for Rice, and many fans don’t think he was treated well by the club. He’s already started to pay them back though and looked completely at ease surrounded by world-class players on Saturday. Rice has already started attracting attention for his West Ham performances. Man City are said to be lining up a summer bid with Pep Guardiola watching him for the rest of the season with an eye to him being Fernandinho’s long-term replacement. You don’t get much higher praise than that. West Ham might not be able to keep hold of him if teams of this calibre are dead set on signing him in the summer, but the new contract means they’ll get a hefty fee for a player who’s come up through the youth ranks at the Hammers after making the switch from Chelsea in 2013. It makes the shenanigans over his new contract seem all the more ludicrous.