Jack Wilshere backs West Ham United ace Declan Rice to score ‘cracker’ in World Cup
Former West Ham United midfielder Jack Wilshere believes Irons captain Declan Rice is going to score a “cracker” at the World Cup in Qatar.
The 23-year-old was again mightily impressive as the Three Lions sent neighbours Wales home early with a 3-0 win as he marshalled the defence expertly.
But it was his attacking intent and forward passes that really caught Wilshere’s attention on Tuesday (29 November) as Gareth Southgate’s side topped Group B.
“I also enjoyed seeing Declan Rice bringing the ball forward into the opposition half and trying to get attacks going,” Wilshere said to The Sun. “At West Ham, I used to say to him he should score more goals, as he has two great feet and is a fantastic finisher.
“I reckon we’ll see a cracker from Rice before this World Cup is over. If he adds goalscoring to his game, he will be a £100million man.”
All-rounder
Some people outside of the London Stadium could be forgiven for thinking that Rice is just a holding midfielder and not much more but he has so many arrows in his quiver it’s almost scary.
His ability to read the game and make interceptions is one of his strongest assets and England have seen the very best of that in the World Cup so far with his impact keeping them on the attack for much of the group stage.
But he does have a venomous strike from distance and his size coupled with a surprising fleet of foot makes him a dangerous box-to-box weapon should it ever be needed.
The issue in the England set-up is that the likes of Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden who are capable of playing ahead of him in the midfield and you don’t want to cramp their space to thrive.
David Moyes could make more use of Rice’s attacking ability at West Ham when the season resumes but his holding role is working for England right now so there is no need to change that.