Exclusive: McAvennie hails Moyes impact at West Ham as Chelsea hunt for Rice reportedly dies
We’re delighted to welcome former West Ham United striker Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium…
Frank McAvennie believes West Ham’s brilliant season has done more towards helping keep hold of Declan Rice than Frank Lampard’s exit from Chelsea.
Last month, in the wake of Lampard’s sacking at Stamford Bridge, the Telegraph reported that West Ham were confident Chelsea had dropped their interest in signing 22-year-old Rice as he was a player their now-former manager wanted to sign.
While it’s great to see Chelsea ending their pursuit of Rice, McAvennie believes West Ham’s wonderful form in the Premier League has also played a big role in the England international staying put in East London.
“I think [Rice] will be happy to stay at West Mam now because they’re doing well. It would be different if they were getting beaten all the time and he was getting man of the match but it’s not happening now. They’re a bit dizzy that high up the table at the moment,” McAvennie told West Ham Zone.
“They’re there because they deserve to be there, not by any luck and David’s got a good backroom team. He’s got a great balance going on. Stuart Pearce coming in improved the defence. Pearce and Moyes were centre-halves and you can see how they’ve worked on defending.
“It’s great to watch.”
Rice has been in superb form for West Ham this season.
The midfielder has made 23 appearances in all competitions for the Irons, playing every single minute of every single Premier League match. According to stats by Wyscout, only seven players have played in more minutes than the ever-present Irons ace.
Rice is an absolute credit to the Hammers so seeing Chelsea’s pursuit of him end is a massive boost but McAvennie is definitely right in saying that West Ham’s role in keeping the player cannot be understated too.
Moyes has overseen a huge improvement at the club. If he hadn’t, would Rice still be at the London Stadium?
In other West Ham news, we’ve assessed how good the January window was for the Irons.