West Ham United youngster Declan Rice made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland last week.
Rice made his debut for the Republic of Ireland against Turkey in the friendly international match at the the Antalya Stadium on Friday evening.
The 19-year-old, who can operate as a central defender or as a defensive midfielder, played well, and O’Neill was impressed.
O’Neill told Sky Sports about Rice’s performance: “I thought he did excellently in the game. He’s played left-sided centre-half for West Ham, his club, and at this minute I think he’s getting accustomed to a number of positions
“I had no hesitation in putting him into the middle of the field. It was a man-of-the-match performance and I thought he was excellent for us.
“Considering it’s his debut and he’s 19 years of age, it was an impressive performance from an impressive young man.
“He made one run there, a super run, things opened up and it’s great for the confidence to do that. As he gets more comfortable with the ball, he will sometimes, instead of playing it backwards, he will go forwards.”
David Moyes should take note
Rice is still very young and is far from the finished article, but the youngster is very promising and his performance last week was brilliant.
West Ham manager David Moyes should take note of O’Neill’s comments on the 19-year-old.
The Hammers need young and upcoming players in the future, both in defence and in midfield.
The versatility of Rice, who is valued at €8.7 million (£7.6m) by CIES Football Observatory, means that he could do a job at the back or in the middle of the park for West Ham, and he can only improve and gain more experience by playing regular first-team football for West Ham.
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