By Jason Jones

27th Dec, 2019 | 9:29pm

Bent heaps praise on 'brilliant, brilliant' West Ham 'servant'

There are few players in the Premier League who have committed as much to their club as Mark Noble has committed to West Ham. 

The veteran midfielder has spent the entirety of his career at his boyhood club, excepting some loan spells in the fledgling days of his career, and he has built a reputation in east London that should put him up there alongside some of the club’s greatest ever players.

And Darren Bent has been quick to hail the legacy he is building with the Irons.

Speaking to Football Insider, he said: “Mark Noble has been a brilliant, brilliant servant for them.

“To play so many games for that club, he is Mr. West Ham through and through, he understands what it takes to play for that club.

“And I love seeing guys like that, I was playing against Noble for years and years, and I love that seeing those guys who are so committed to a club.

“You can see his legs are slowly starting to go, and you can tell Noble is going to go straight from that pitch onto the coaching staff.”

The sad reality is that one day in the not-too-distant future, Noble is going to have to call time on his career, and it will be a glum day when he does.

The main consolation, when that does come, will be the fact that he has given his all to this club.

Even this term, when things have been disappointing for much of the campaign, he has averaged 1.7 tackles per game in the centre of the park, as per Whoscored.

As Bent says, the legs are starting to go a little, but his passion is as strong as ever, and in these difficult times, you can’t underestimate who important that could prove to be.

In other news, Danny Mills: West Ham need to strike ‘clever deal’ to push through flop exit.