According to The Athletic, Declan Rice often stays behind at West Ham’s Rush Green training ground to work on his set-pieces.
It seems to be paying off.
Rice scored a penalty against Sheffield United on February 15th, while he also shared set-piece duties with Aaron Cresswell against Everton and Southampton.
The revelation was made in a report detailing how the Hammers are annoyed at England for their handling of Rice’s knee injury.
Sadly, the 15-cap England international damaged his knee ligaments in the 64th minute of England’s 2-1 win over Poland on March 31st.
Rice left Wembley without England offering to scan his injury, before the problem worsened overnight.
West Ham eventually sent the 22-year-old for a scan, where it was revealed that he’d suffered a small tear to his lateral ligament.
Rice is likely to miss six weeks of action, according to The Athletic.
That is desperately sad news for the Hammers academy graduate, who is an ever-present for the Irons and was a shoe-in to make Gareth Southgate’s EURO 2021 squad.
Rice earned the Man of the Match award for England on back-to-back occasions against Albania and Poland recently.
From where we stand, we’re desperate for him to regain full fitness ahead of EURO 2021.
If he misses his first international tournament, it would be the cruellest of blows.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
