West Ham United boss David Moyes has challenged Declan Rice to start scoring more and says he could get double figures next season.
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Rice was one of the standout players for West Ham again last term and helped lead the team to its highest ever Premier League points total and into the Europa League.
The midfield ace has also become a key player for England.
Moyes says two-goal Rice should and will start hitting double figures for West Ham
But his manager at West Ham insists there is still plenty of room for improvement in Rice’s game.
The 22-year-old scored two goals for the Hammers last season.
Now Moyes has told The Times he should be scoring more and says Rice can get double figures for West Ham next season.
“An aspect we are trying to develop at West Ham is Declan’s goalscoring,” Moyes told The Times after signing a new three-year deal with West Ham.
“He is a fantastic finisher. You really see it in training. He has a kick like a horse, should get more goals and he knows that.
10-goal Soucek can be perfect example to Rice
“Definitely, it is in his locker to become a midfielder who gets into double figures for goals every season and it felt like a good marker that he scored our last goal of the season, in a 3-0 victory over Southampton.”
Rice need look no further of what it takes to get that kind of goal return than his midfield partner Tomas Soucek.
The Hammers duo will face one another when England play Czech Republic.
But they have forged a brilliant central midfield dynamic at West Ham with Soucek getting 10 goals in his first full campaign.
Rice could nearly have got to double figures last season without breaking a sweat
Thinking back Rice could have easily had six or seven goals this season without breaking a sweat.
He had a penalty saved against West Brom and gave a penalty to Jesse Lingard against Leeds United.
He smashed the underside of the bar against Leicester and had a stunning strike saved against Arsenal after lung-busting runs.
And Rice also had a couple cleared off the line.
Across 32 games, Rice averaged just under a shot per game. With his quality, if he can up that to two or three then Moyes’s prediction could comfortably come true.
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