West Ham boss David Moyes has made a bold claim which may put noses out of joint and upset bitter rivals Spurs and Man City.
West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City all won at the weekend.
Tottenham strode into the top four with a 5-1 thumping of Newcastle while West Ham set down a marker in the race for the European places by beating Everton to go up to sixth, three points off Spurs.
Man City have loftier aims of course and their 2-0 win at Burnley put Pep Guardiola’s side back on top of the Premier League.
If there is one thing West Ham, Tottenham and Man City all have in common it is that they possess talismanic Englishmen who are key to their relative success.
At Man City Guardiola splashed out £100m to bring England fan favourite Jack Grealish to the Etihad. That record figure for an English player in itself suggests he can lay claim to being his country’s best player.
He also shares a frontline at Man City with two other players who would feel they were in with a shout of being labelled England’s best – Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling.
At Tottenham of course there is no disputing that Harry Kane is the man. Kane was once again instrumental for Spurs in their demolition of Newcastle and he is the England captain with eyes on the all-time Premier League goalscoring record.
West Ham’s Declan Rice is rated as the best midfielder in Europe if not the world with his performances for the Hammers and England.
Rice has made that position his own and been compared to some greats of the game. The £150m valuation put on his head by West Ham has raised eyebrows but underlines just how important he is to David Moyes and the Hammers.
So important in fact that it has prompted West Ham boss Moyes to make a bold claim which may upset Spurs and Man City.
Because the Scot believes Rice is now England’s best and most important player ahead of the likes of Tottenham’s Kane and Man City trio Grealish, Foden and Sterling (Sky Sports).
“We might have (the future England captain) if he keeps playing at the level he’s playing at, he’s got a good chance,” Moyes said in an interview with Sky Sports.
“I think he’s been England’s best performer from the Euros if you ask me my opinion, the most consistent performer. I think some of the players now are playing very well – Harry Kane for example.
“But I think if you looked at the start of the season to where we are now, I would put Declan in that very high, consistent bracket.”
Spurs and Man City fans will undoubtedly try. But it’s difficult to argue with Moyes here.
It will not be long before Rice is leading England but in many senses he already is leading the way for his country as it is.
Let’s just hope like the great Bobby Moore before him he is captaining England while being the skipper at West Ham.
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