Declan Rice has paid tribute to West Ham teammate Issa Diop after the Frenchman scored in Monday’s 3-0 triumph over Sheffield United, while speaking to the Hammers’ website.
Few would have predicted, when West Ham were demanding £60 million for Diop amid interest from Manchester United in 2019 (Sky), that the giant Frenchman would be gathering dust on the bench two years later.
But, thanks to the fine form of Craig Dawson, Angelo Ogbonna and even Fabian Balbuena, the one-time Toulouse captain had slipped well down David Moyes’ pecking order this season.
So Diop would have been forgiven for feeling a little rusty when Sheffield United arrived at the London Stadium, thrust into the starting XI thanks to Ogbonna’s injury-enforced absence
Not that the 24-year-old looked out-of-practice during a 3-0 win that keeps West Ham’s Champions League dreams alive.
Diop put his 6ft 4ins frame to good use, completing four clearances at one end while scoring at the other, glancing a typically pinpoint Aaron Cresswell cross past Aaron Ramsdale early in the second half.
“It was a top performance from him, considering he hadn’t played in a while,” Rice said of his seldom-seen teammate.
“But that’s the type of squad we’ve got now, where they can come in and put in a top performance.”
Rice was also full of praise for Lukasz Fabianski, the veteran goalkeeper who denied Sheffield United a 50th minute equaliser with a brilliant reaction save from a deflected David McGoldrick header.
“Yeah it was a big save and another clean sheet for him and massive for us,” the England international added.
Rice himself opened the scoring with a first-half penalty while Ryan Fredericks came off the bench to put the proverbial cherry on the cake.
West Ham are now level on points with Chelsea and just four behind Manchester United in second.
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