OPINION
Many West Ham fans will feel smug at the expense of their London rivals after Phil Thompson compared Declan Rice with Chelsea midfielder Jorginho.
The Sky Sports pundit boldly claimed that the Hammers’ 20-year-old was currently ahead of the 27-year-old Blues player when comparing them and highlighted how Rice was still developing.
“He is playing better than ever, he’s playing the ball forward, we’ve seen number of holding midfielders who pass it square, backwards, like Jorginho who is an experienced player, he passes square and passes it back,” said Thompson on Soccer Saturday (Sky Sports News, February 23rd, 12:26)
“This boy is developing (Rice) and it shows how good it is to give young kids a chance and that you can do, Chelsea, Man City take note.
“Oh Absolutely (when asked if he is ahead of Jorginho) due to what he does, he is a lot quicker than him as well.”
With Thompson not only ranking Rice above Jorginho currently, but doing it confidently, Hammers fans are no doubt on the brink of gloating to any Chelsea supporter they know.
This is especially the case when you feel that some Chelsea fans will probably agree as Jorginho has struggled to shine in his 34 appearances this season and has regularly been criticised.
The comparison is only made sweeter for Hammers fans when you consider that Chelsea paid in the region of £57million (Source: BBC) for Jorginho and currently pay the midfield enforcer a whopping £110,000-a-week (Source: Spotrac).
Whereas Rice rose through the Hammers’ academy, after joining the club at a young age from Chelsea, and is only reportedly earning £30,000-a-week (Source: The Sun) after signing a new deal in December.
Also it’s fair to say the Hammers will enjoy a high-profile pundit believing that they have a player better than the equivalent one at Chelsea as it’s always good to have something to brag about over their London rivals.