Gary Neville has admitted that he was “completely wrong” in his first judgement of Declan Rice. The West Ham midfielder is now firmly established as one of the Premier League’s best young players and is attracting regular interest from other clubs, but Neville initially was not impressed with him.
Rice has been exceptional for West Ham this season and, according to the Manchester Evening News, is one of Manchester United’s key targets for the summer transfer window.
With Mark Noble regularly on the bench, the 23-year-old has stepped up to captain the Hammers this campaign, making 28 appearances across all competitions.
He is also a regular for Gareth Southgate’s England side and is reportedly valued at over £100million by West Ham boss David Moyes.
Few people would doubt Rice’s ability now, but that was not the case at the start of his career, which came at West Ham after Chelsea released him from their academy.
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“However I interviewed Declan Rice this week for the overlap and I judged him as a young player at West Ham.
“I have to say I got it completely wrong. What an outstanding young person. Authoritative, confident, humble and quite simply the most impressive young footballer I’ve interviewed in 11 years.
“He’s also a fantastic talent and I went too early!”
According to the recent report by the MEN, United have recognised that central midfield is the biggest problem that needs to be addressed this summer.
They have had long-standing interest in Rice and will try to pursue it before the start of the 2022/23 season, despite his contract with the Hammers until June 2024.
Rice is reportedly interested in a move to United, having asked Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw about the club while on international duty with England last year.
An attacker is also on the cards, due in part to the fact that Edinson Cavani, Jesse Lingard, Paul Pogba and Juan Mata are all set leave at the end of their contracts in June.
Another defender and a goalkeeper are also possibilities at Old Trafford, with the futures of Phil Jones, Eric Bailly and Dean Henderson far from certain.
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