Declan Rice ‘has everything’ – Former West Ham striker Haller says he can be world class
Former West Ham striker Sebastian Haller has lauded ex-teammate Declan Rice in his first interview since moving to Ajax in January.
The Ivorian, 26, made a £20.5million switch to the Dutch champions having failed to live up to the record £45million fee West Ham had paid for him 18 months prior.
Speaking with talkSPORT, Haller reflected on his time in east London with the Hammers.
He claimed that Rice can go on to be a world-class player.
“He has everything,” Haller said.
“He is still really young, he’s a good captain, and technically he is good and strong.
“I can easily say that during my one and a half years he was in the top two most important players because he recovered a lot of balls and was really important to the team.
“The only thing I can wish him to be is a world-class player because he has the potential.”
Our superstar
West Ham fans have been saying this for years. Rice will go on and achieve whatever he wants to in his career because of his attitude, ability and professionalism.
Our number 41 was released by Chelsea as a 16-year-old. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Rice came through the ranks at West Ham. He’s the best player to come out of the academy since Rio Ferdinand, in our opinion.
Now an England regular too, he looks nailed on to be a starter in the European Championships this summer. It’s only a matter of time until he is named club captain of West Ham on a permanent basis. Noble is winding down now. He’s nurturing Rice and helping him make the transition into skipper at the age of just 22.
It’s good to hear Haller speak of his former teammate in such a positive manner. He is also a player with lots of potential but just didn’t suit the Moyes system.
There is no hiding that Haller split the fanbase on opinions of him and his work rate. In our opinion, he is clearly a world-class player that was short of confidence with us. He found success at Frankfurt playing in a front two.
In the Moyes system, he was deployed as the lone frontman and was asked to do a lot of running, which simply isn’t his game. He proved his quality with the goals he scored this season, the best coming against Crystal Palace and Sheffield United.
As sad as it was to see him go, these are exciting times for the club. It’ll be interesting to see who Moyes brings in to replace him. We are in desperate need of competition and cover for Antonio up top – this will be high on the priority list this summer.
In other West Ham news, Tammy Abraham appears to be on the club’s radar this summer.