Declan Rice ‘probably the best’ all-round midfielder in world football, says West Ham legend | OneFootball

West Ham great Tony Cottee says Declan Rice is probably the best midfielder in the world right now – but think he could end his career back at centre-back.

The 26-year-old former Hammers midfielder has been instrumental in Arsenal leading the Premier League after nine games played, scoring once and also setting up three goals.

And Cottee, who played for West Ham for eight years across two different spells, praised Rice’s improvement and says he is probably the best all-round midfielder in world football.

“Yeah, I think Dec is a bit unique really and he’s probably, in terms of being able to do everything, he probably is the best because he can he can literally do the lot,” Cottee, speaking to Hayters via Wildz casino, said.

“For me, when I watched Declan when he grew up as a kid at West Ham, everyone was saying his best position is centre half and I think ultimately we’ll probably find Declan in seven or eight years’ time that he probably will end up as a centre half and probably have a long career at the back throughout his 30s.

“He’s got that defensive side to his game, he’s got that box to box where he can get backwards, upwards, sideways, he can go wherever he wants you. He’s got wonderful technical ability in terms of his first touch and his passing ability and then the only slight thing where you would have said maybe in his early days at West Ham, the only questions would have been well can he finish, has he got that finishing attribute?

“I think he’s shown not only with his set pieces from corners, the ability to put the ball on a certain spot pretty much every time, but you’ve only got to look at his two-goal contribution against Real Madrid. I was watching that game live last season, that was just an incredible ten minutes of football where he scored two goals. He probably won’t ever get two goals like that, it was two phenomenal goals.

“So I think if you’re looking at complete all-round midfield players, I think Dec’s right up there. I’m really struggling to think of someone that can do everything that Declan can.

“I mean, we always think could he have played in the 70s and the 80s and the 90s when the pitches were muddy and all that; of course he could. He would be that sort of player sliding around doing sliding tackles, and he is a bit of a throwback. I can see the Gerrard comparison, and I can see a Frank Lampard comparison.”