Mark Noble spoke to CBS Sports ahead of West Ham’s Europa League clash with Dinamo Zagreb earlier today, discussing Declan Rice specifically.
What’s the story?
Well, the 34-year-old took time to praise the West Ham No.41 for his maturity, and how well he has transitioned in taking the captaincy.
Noble said: “I take pride in how well he has done and what he has achieved in his short career. He’s such a fantastic player. The great thing about Dec, you probably don’t know how good he is.”
However, West Ham’s No.16 also spoke about how Rice left everyone at West Ham ‘gutted’ after failing to win EURO 2020 over the summer.
Noble told CBS Sports: “He’s a massive part of this football club, we were all gutted he didn’t come home with the England trophy.”
Clearly, Rice makes Noble extremely proud, which comes as no surprise to us whatsoever.
It has almost been like a big brother, little brother situation between the pair since Rice broke into the first-team.
In our view, it’s been extremely beneficial for Rice to have someone like Noble looking out for him, and showing him the ropes in east London.
West Ham shouldn’t be too gutted about Declan Rice
Everyone at the London Stadium shouldn’t get too upset about Rice failing to win EURO 2020.
The way the £60,000-a-week colossus and England are going, there’ll be many more chances to win silverware.
Rice is just 22, and has already racked up 26 caps for England.
He’s clearly one of the first names on the teamsheet now, and with the likes of Jude Bellingham, Jadon Sancho, Jack Grealish and others around him, England will surely be a force for years.
Once Harry Kane is out of the picture too, we see no reason why Rice can’t captain the Three Lions.
It speaks volumes that David Moyes has given him the armband at just 22.
The future looks very, very bright for Rice, to say the least.
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