Rio Ferdinand names Premier League star as ‘best midfielder in the country’

Rio Ferdinand names one particular Premier League star as the ‘best midfielder in the country’ who tends to dominate many a game.

The Manchester United legend has claimed that West Ham player Declan Rice is “arguably” the greatest player in that position in the country right now.

The 22 year old Hammers fan favourite has been a central part of David Moyes’ plans at the club, who have had a flying start in the current Premier League campaign.

Rice, who is under contract until 2024, has started and played every single minute of West Ham’s 11 Premier League matches this season.

He also impressed in the summer during the Three Lions’s run to the Euro 2020 final after forging a superb midfield partnership with Leeds United’s Kalvin Phillips.

The England international has been subject to intense speculation linking him with Chelsea and Manchester United, despite West Ham fending off interest from rival Premier League clubs.

Ferdinand has now taken to praise Rice for his “maturity” and how he has “dominated” matches with his performances from midfield.

Speaking on Rio Ferdinand Presents FIVE, the BT Sport pundit said: “He has arguably been the best midfielder in the country.

“He has dominated games, he has played with maturity. The Euros, something’s clicked in him different.

“His game management, the way he can change the pace of a game at times, we saw that at Newcastle earlier in the season.

“He’s added goals now. There’s a maturity in his game for one so young that he’s got levels still to go.”

Rice, who was born in Kingston upon Thames, has turned down two contract extensions from West Ham, despite claiming that he is “happy” at the London club.

West Ham previously slapped a £100m price tag on the England star, but Moyes has claimed that “bargain” price is no longer on the table.

“There was a bargain to be got with Declan at £100million. That bargain has now gone,” he told Sky Sports.

“We have a lot of really good players at this football club and I think while you’re building and developing I think people might always come and look at your players.

“But it is good that they are because that is telling us that they’re doing well.”

West Ham are flying high in the Premier League right now, winning seven of their 11 league matches and sit third in the table — level on points with Manchester City — prior to the next international break.

Meanwhile, Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville compared West Ham’s Declan Rice to Roy Keane and discusses his future.

Speaking on Monday Night Football last month, Carra said: “I watched Declan Rice against Everton and I gave him man of the match. Jamie Redknapp was talking before the game about the price tag of Declan Rice, people were saying it could be £80m, £90m, £100m, but Jamie was saying he needs more goals and assists.

“I understand that if you’re paying that type of money, but the way I watched Declan Rice at Goodison reminded me of Roy Keane.

“I’ve never judged Roy Keane on goals or assists, or Patrick Vieira, or any of those top midfield players. That was his performance against Everton – running the midfield, having a presence, punching away passes like Roy Keane used to, running forward at times with or without the ball.

“Every time Everton attacked, he always seemed to be the guy there to stop it – it was a brilliant performance, I’m a huge fan of his.

“Soucek was getting forward a lot more, but he [Rice] was breaking things up. When he was making passes, they weren’t 60 or 70 yard passes, but he was just punching passes in.

“Sometimes when you’re running with the ball and you’re not used to it or it’s not your game, you can sometimes lose control of it. But Rice was always in control when he was running with the ball.

“It was reminiscent of when I used to watch Roy Keane at his best, in that holding role but still driving forward from these positions. And what impresses me the most is that final pass, sometimes you can get tired and lose your legs and let yourself down with that final pass.

“He was head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch and with the stats, it’s evident that he was. I mentioned after 15 minutes, Everton have got to do something about Rice, he was absolutely running the game. They never did and that’s why West Ham were deserved winners.”

Keane has also spoken about Rice’s talent, and believes the midfielder is further ahead in his development as a player compared to himself at the same age.

He told Sky Sports in September: “I think Declan’s improved as much as any player over the last one or two seasons. I know he’s been linked with Man United and if you’d have asked me a year or two ago, I would have thought give him another year or two in terms of maturing.

“I look to where I was when I was 22. I think he’s way ahead of me when I was 22.

“I think the next step will come when he’s playing at a higher level, Champions League, competing for trophies. He’s obviously a regular for England. There’s a lot more to come from him.”

Speaking on Monday Night Football, Neville agrees with Keane’s sentiments that Rice is arguably destined to make the jump to a bigger club in the future.

The Sky Sports pundit also discussed a possible positional change, as a number of central midfielders have done so for a spell of games in recent seasons.

Neville said: “I think the development will be, at some point – and West Ham fans won’t like me saying this – he will somehow have to transfer to a club that plays in the Champions League, where he plays in a midfield with high expectations, where teams are dropping deep every week and there will be a different ask of him.

“I’ve always wondered whether he’d end up at a top club at centre-back just with the nature of the game. But he plays in central midfield for England at major tournaments and does well so he can play central midfield, but I do think there may come a point where he could be a centre-back as well in one of the top teams.

“The demands on the players to be good on the ball, drive out with the ball, I think he’s a good defender. He’s got a massive physique about him and he’s got good speed. As a central midfielder or holding midfielder in a top team, he definitely could do it.