Di Canio: ‘No coincidence’ that ‘one of the best’ Rice is linked with Chelsea
Paulo Di Canio has suggested that it is “no coincidence” that Declan Rice has been linked with Chelsea after his performances for West Ham and England.
Rice has featured 145 times for West Ham since he made his senior debut for them in 2016/17.
In this time, he has established himself as one of the most promising young midfielders in the Premier League.
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Rice’s form for West Ham has led to him becoming a regular for England. He has played a part in all of their games so far at Euro 2020.
The Three Lions face Denmark in the semi-finals on Wednesday evening.
Di Canio has told talkSPORT that Rice can become one of the best defensive midfielders in the world:
“They were incredible and made them [England] nearly impossible to beat.
“He’s a fantastic guy because he’s a specialist in this position in midfield.
“They were incredible and made them [England] nearly impossible to beat.
“Rice became the third central defender against Ukraine and he sorted out any problems, he’s a very, very good player.
“It’s no coincidence that in England you hear about Chelsea interest.
“To have Rice at this time in his career with the prospects that he can become one of the best in his position with his physical presence. He’s one of the best.”
Elsewhere, John Barnes has suggested that Rice would be a “good fit” for Liverpool:
“There have been suggestions that Declan Rice is a target for Liverpool and he would be a good fit for them. Liverpool like central midfield players who work hard.
“Declan Rice isn’t going to come in and score lots of goals, he’s not going to be creative, he’s not a midfield player like David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne or Ilkay Gundogan, but Liverpool don’t need that.
“The kind of players Liverpool need are players like Rice or Yves Bissouma, hard-working midfield players who get the ball forward, make tackles, win the ball and keep it quite simple.
“He’s similar to Jordan Henderson in that way. So if he wants to come to Liverpool, he has the right profile for them.”
