Youngster duo to lead West Ham forward as future captains

West Ham is lucky enough to have a few players who boast Premier League experience and leadership abilities. With youth growing behind them, these two youngsters could prove to be West Ham’s future captaincy pairing.

The two players are Issa Diop and Declan Rice and they are showing that they can perform at a Premier League level. While not leaders at this time on West Ham both have experience in youth teams performing as team captain, Rice as West Ham’s U23 captain, and Diop as Toulouse’s captain in Frances Ligue 1 at just 20 years of age.

Issa Diop

Diop offers skill on top of his towering size and hulking physicality. It’s one thing to be 1.94 meters tall, and it’s another to be able to coordinate those massive appendages for blocks and interceptions without committing fouls.

Diop’s performances should speak for themselves so far at West Ham. He has stepped into the backline in place of Ogbonna and beside Fabian Balbuena and has not looked out of place. He has made one error and it came against Everton, biting on Bernard’s fake inside to then open up space for Sigurdsson’s headed goal in an area Diop should have been marking. Outside of that, he has been as advertised; big and a defensive presence.

The stats don’t lie either. In three Premier League appearances, Diop has a win/loss aerial battle rate of 6/2, while he has also won 14 duels and lost only 6. His Premier League debut came against Arsenal, and although he did score an own goal, Diop hit the ground running, keeping Aubumeyang in check for most of the match. The Everton match was a coming out party for a lot of players, Diop included.

West Ham invested in Diop this offseason in hopes of finding a long-term center back that the club can rely on. It’s only been three matches for him but he is undroppable at this time and is proving to be smart money spend for the Hammers.

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Declan Rice

The writing is on the wall for Declan Rice; when Mark Noble decides to hang up his boots it’ll be Rice that succeeds Mr. West Ham as club captain. We almost saw it happen against Everton as Noble handed Rice the armband after he was subbed for Sanchez but alas, Rice was just the delivery boy for Zabaleta.

It was a gamble to take Rice out of his native center back position that he excelled at last season and push him to a midfield role, but the gamble looked good in the Everton match. In a midfield three with Obiang and Noble, Rice looked solid as a rock and settled in his defensive midfield position. It’s clear the focus for Rice is on defending the backline so he happily resisted the urge to sprint upfield in order to fulfill his primary role. Dedication and diligence to a position like that is leadership material.

Statistically, Rice showed that despite sitting deep in midfield he was an active and accurate passer of the ball. Rice totaled 40 passes with 82.5% accuracy, while also sending 5 longballs down the pitch to ignite the breakout. He continued to fill his stat line defensively too with 5 tackles, 1 interception, 3 clearances, 1 dribble, and 2 blocks.

He is currently mired in an international crisis regarding his allegiance to either England or Ireland for international football. Regardless of where he’ll play outside of his club, inside West Ham, he has the backing of board member David Gold to be the next West Ham captain.

West Ham have a few solid role models to groom Issa Diop and Declan Rice. For Rice, Mark Noble is the definition of what a West Ham captain should be, and can show him the midfield ropes, too. Prior to this season Rice also had exposure to James Collins in the locker room, a hard-nosed, blue-collar professional who is a West Ham legend for his grit and determination.

Diop should be able to learn from Mark Noble as well, even though he isn’t a midfielder. The ability to be comfortable around every team member and to try and make them better on the pitch is a lesson Noble can impart to any player in any position. Pablo Zabaleta should also be highly regarded for his sage wisdom defensively and as a player who is vocal as he leads from the back.

West Ham appear to be in good hands for the future with Diop and Rice eagerly awaiting their opportunities to take up the mantle in leadership positions. The Hammers are lucky to have two promising young players who can ease the transition from present to future already on their squad.