Former Premier League player Dean Windass has described West Ham’s Declan Rice as a manager’s dream.
The £63m-rated defensive midfielder has made over 150 appearances for the first team at West Ham United.
Rice helped West Ham qualify for the Europa League last season after finishing sixth in the Premier League table and then went on and formed a formidable partnership with Leeds United’s Kalvin Phillips in the summer for England, helping the Three Lions reach the final of Euro 2020.
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Windass described Rice as a manager’s dream, telling This is Futbol: “He must be a dream for a manager, and he must be a dream for his teammates.
“We had it, sorry I’ll go back to Hull City, not the most gifted footballer in the world but we had a lad called Ian Ashbee who captained the club for four years and Phil Brown said to us he was probably one of the best sitting midfield players in the Premier League for stopping balls going into strikers.
“He would read the ball, where it was going into strikers, and then he would get the ball and give it to people who can play and that’s what we used to say and Declan’s a top, top player.”
West Ham have continued their form from last season and taken it into this campaign as they currently sit fourth in the league table just five points behind leaders Chelsea, as the Hammers have accumulated 20 points and are on a run of three straight victories.
Rice leads the passing charts in the league for West Ham, as he has made 608 passes and is also joint top of the assist charts, as he joins both Michail Antonio and Said Benrahma on three for the campaign so far.