Slaven Bilic tells Declan Rice no rush leaving West Ham for a bigger club right now
Declan Rice has grown in leaps and bounds since making his Premier League debut for West Ham United in May 2017.
Slaven Bilic handed the Hammers academy graduate his first-team bow and is hoping he stays at the London Stadium for much longer [The Athletic].
While Rice’s debut was not more than a few minutes, the former West Ham manager remembers what happened afterwards in his office between him and the England international.
“I remember, after the game against Burnley, I called him into my office but he called me ‘Slav’,” Bilic told The Athletic.
“Even Mark Noble calls me ‘boss’ or ‘gaffer’ so when Declan Rice said ‘Slav’ I knew it wasn’t in a bad way or disrespectful way but I made my face serious and I said, ‘How did you call me Slav?’
“And then he just froze and said, ‘I’m so sorry’. Then I started laughing. That’s probably my favourite memory of Declan.”
Solid player
Rice has become the Hammers stand-in captain four years after that incident, becoming arguably their most important player.
He is not short of suitors in the Premier League, and more clubs are likely to emerge for his signature after the European Championship.
However, West Ham are insisting he is not for sale, and the 22-year-old is not likely to be keen either after helping us seal a place in the group stages of next season’s Europa League.
Helping the Three Lions eliminate Germany in the Euro 2020 last-16 clash later today at Wembley would be a great feat for the Hammers star.
Rice will be coming up against Real Madrid veteran Toni Kroos, and whichever country come out top would likely depend on which one of the two players wins the midfield battle.
We cannot wait to see him prove himself in what is his most important international game thus far, and we have to agree that a top performance would get even more clubs keeping tabs on him.
As Bilic noted [The Athletic], though, Rice is more than ready to play for the biggest clubs in Europe, but he needs to keep progressing at West Ham for now as we prepare for the seemingly inevitable.
In other West Ham news, Hammers want to sign South American sensation with 22 goals involvements in 20/21.
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