West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice admits the best is yet to come from the Hammers’ skipper amid transfer interest from Manchester United.
On Friday, the 23-year-old midfielder finished third in the Football Writers’ Association’s Player of the Year award for the 2021/22 season, with Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne coming second and Liverpool top scorer Mohammed Salah winning the award.
It has been a spectacular season for Hammers skipper Rice. In a season that followed him helping England reach the final of EURO 2020, Rice has led West Ham to what is set to be qualification for European football next season and in a Europa League campaign that currently has them in a semi-final clash with German outfit Eintracht Frankfurt.
While Rice was proud to finish third in the award, considering the best years of his career are still ahead of him, the former Chelsea academy talent has stated that there is plenty more to come from him, something which is backed by himself and those managing him at West Ham.
“Not bad, not bad, I would have liked to have won it,” Rice told Football Daily. “I’m obviously up against Salah and De Bruyne. It’s hard to say really because I could never really imagine myself putting my name with them two types of players and to come third shows that people have appreciated what I have done on a football pitch this season.
“I feel like I’ve taken another step in the right direction in my career but I’m still only 23 and trust me, I know myself, I’ve got so much more that I can let out of the bag. I know that, my coaches tell me that.
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“I think it just comes with time and as I get older, it will keep coming and coming but I feel like you’re only starting to see the start of me. I feel like I’m going to keep pushing and getting better.”
Rice has known transfer interest from Manchester United, who for years have shown their lack of quality in central midfield, a role in which Rice could thrive in if the Red Devils forked out for the midfielder in the summer.
He has also been repeatedly linked with interest from former club Chelsea. Rice was with the club’s academy until the age of 14 and it is well-known that he is close friends with England teammate and Chelsea star Mason Mount.
However, should Rice depart the London Stadium, West Ham boss David Moyes has previously stated that it would command a fee of over £150m to sign Rice from the Europa League side, although Moyes has also outlined that the midfielder is not for sale.
Last week, it was reported that Rice had turned down a third offer from West Ham of a contract offer which suggests that Rice could well be on the move away from the club he first joined as a teenager.
Rice has scored ten times in 190 appearances in all competitions for West Ham, with three of those goals coming in this season’s run in the Europa League.
