Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane has spoken about West Ham United captain Declan Rice after the England international stayed at the London Stadium this summer.
Rice, who has been heavily linked with Chelsea and Manchester United in recent years, succeeded Mark Noble as the club’s captain following his retirement earlier this summer.
Last season, David Moyes said it would cost clubs £150million to sign Rice and despite links with an exit, the 23-year-old remains with the Hammers and captained them at the London Stadium for their Premier League season opening defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.
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Ahead of the 2-0 defeat, where Erling Haaland scored in both halves for Pep Guardiola’s side, Keane, who played 480 times Man United between 1993 and 2006, believes that it is massive for the Hammers to keep Rice ahead of the campaign.
Keane is also excited to see how Rice’s future pans out, having started his sixth season as a senior player against the Sky Blues.
“It’s huge, I never thought they would sell Declan this summer they always made it clear he wasn’t for sale,” Keane told Sky Sports ahead of the game.
“I think they mentioned £150m which was never going to happen. Declan’s an excellent player, a lot of experience, he plays week in week out, he’s always available, so big future ahead of him.”
Since making his debut in May 2017, Rice has played 196 appearances for the club, with 168 of those outings coming in the Premier League.
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