Rice will be England captain, says Moyes

3 years ago 43

ARTICLE AD BOX

Declan Rice will be the captain of England one day, says his West Ham manager David Moyes.

Moyes made the prediction in response to Roy Keane's criticism of the 24-year-old after West Ham's 3-1 FA Cup loss to Manchester United.

Keane said Hammers midfielder Rice "needs to do more" and is sometimes "running through the motions".

But Moyes backed his club's skipper and said: "No doubt he is going to be an England captain in the future."

Rice has 39 caps for England and helped them finish runners-up at Euro 2020, and was part of the squad that reached the quarter-finals at the World Cup in Qatar.

"He is going to be a top player," added Moyes. "Everybody is entitled to their opinion - Declan is a really good player.

"He's not the finished article just now, he will improve. He is proving that to be the case at the moment."

West Ham visit Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday as they look to bounce back from their FA Cup defeat at Old Trafford, where they led before two late goals saw United into the last eight.

"I used to use the word flaky here at West Ham, I've got rid of it in the last few years, but we certainly were for the last 15 minutes [at United]," Moyes said. "It's no point being that, coming and turning up, only to do that at the end.

"Brighton have been a bit of a bogey team for us, so we need to try to overcome that."

West Ham are 16th in the English top-flight with just six wins from 24 matches and are only two points outside the relegation zone.

How to follow West Ham on the BBC banner