Kevin Nolan laughed and shared that he found it ‘really weird’ that West Ham midfielder, Declan Rice, told him that he missed him during a conversation after the Euro 2020 final, as he told BBC Radio 5 Live Sport.
The West Ham coach shared that Rice was ‘high as a kite’ because of what he had achieved at Euro 2020 and he was ‘looking forward’ to returning to club action.
Rice was a standout performer for his country throughout the tournament, despite such a gut-wrenching defeat towards the end.
In the final itself, Rice was subbed off in the second half and Nolan shared how that was a ‘mistake’ from Gareth Southgate.
“He shouldn’t have taken Dec off, that was a mistake on our behalf,” said Nolan. “I thought Dec was growing into the game.
“It was a tactical thing (to bring Rice off). I spoke to him today. He was gutted about it. He was delighted because he feels he had a really strong tournament.
“Speaking to him, he was high as a kite because of what he has achieved. What we were talking about were the three lads who received vile abuse online.
“But he’s in a good place and is looking forward to getting back to working with the lads. He said that he has missed us, which I found really weird.”
Rice’s reputation has hit the roof during this tournament and there’s no doubt that a lot of supporters are respecting his game a lot more.
The same could be said for his defensive partner in crime, Kalvin Phillips, who was another that had question marks over his head before the tournament started.
Well, even though the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes had such glittering careers on the domestic scene, one thing that they couldn’t do was guide England to the final of a major tournament.
Not only have both Rice and Phillips done that but it has been achieved in what is the major tournament of their careers.
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