England call up for West Ham’s Declan Rice well earned

West Ham’s Declan Rice has been rewarded with an England call up. Given his performances, it was a certainty right?

When Declan Rice made his very public announcement that he was switching allegiances to England there was a lot of media coverage. Loads of former players who weren’t ever as good as he is now at 20 were calling him ungrateful and calling the system a disgrace. Souness went as far as to say the West Ham defensive midfielder wouldn’t even get in the England squad.

However thankfully Southgate knows more about football than the grumpy Scottish pundit and Rice has been called up. We covered it last week, but given his competition for that defensive midfield role it seemed a certainty. So what can England expect from the youngster?

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Well first and foremost they will get all the effort they could ask for from a defensive midfielder. If you want the old fashioned tenants of the game to hold then Rice is your man. From the first tackle, first header and first pass until the last whistle is blown he will give it all. Everything will be on the line and there isn’t a single moment he won’t be on the move.

But much more than the usual exuberance of youth is the leadership and command of the side that he shows for the Hammers. He will be one of, if not the youngest, in the squad and he will still look to control the centre. He will not stop talking to his teammates, giving advice and alerting them to danger. In terms of on pitch awareness, not only does he have it for himself he also brings others up as well.

He might not score too many goals, certainly not long range piledrivers, like other media friendly or more advanced midfielders, but he could be a threat from corners. Usually when receiving the ball in an advanced position he tries to recycle, aware that others are more creative and destructive than he is.

All in all you have a perfect holding midfielder. A player who will use the ball economically, disrupt attacks and give their all for 90 minutes. At the level Rice is playing at, those are incredible traits to have. From everyone here at Green St Hammers, we wish him the best of luck and hope he gets competitive minutes.