Josh Cullen and Declan Rice have come through the youth ranks at West Ham United.
Former Premier League player Kevin Kilbane has lauded the ‘very good partnership’ and ‘understanding’ between West Ham duo Declan Rice and Josh Cullen.
Kilbane shared that he had seen the midfield pairing play together for the club’s under-21’s and he was impressed with what he saw from them.
Rice is currently plying his trade in the Irons senior team, while Cullen is on loan at League One side Charlton, who are vying promotion to the second tier of English football.
Speaking to Off The Ball’s official YouTube Channel, Kilbane spoke about both players who have represented the Republic of Ireland – Rice, of course, has since switched allegiances to England.
“He’s good, the two of them did good,” Kilbane told Off The Ball. “I saw them play under-21’s together, him and RIce together in midfield. Very good partnership together.
“You can see that they have come through the system together or they have played a lot of games together at West Ham. You can see that they have an understanding there between them. He [Cullen] is a good footballer. A very good footballer.”
Cullen is two years older than Rice, who has now established himself as a key player in the middle of the park in Manuel Pellegrini’s team.
It remains to be seen if Cullen does break into West Ham’s team when he returns from his loan spell in the summer. He has played nine games for the senior side so far in his career.
Either way, he can look towards his fellow academy graduate, Rice as inspiration because he has gone from strength to strength since breaking into the first team last term.
Naturally a centre-back, Rice has been one of the best performing number 6’s in the Premier League this season and he could earn his first England cap on Friday.
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