Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara has earned big praise from West Ham’s Declan Rice after the pair came up against each other in the Premier League recently.
Rice was clearly blown away by Alcantara’s quality on the ball, saying it was a real learning experience watching him close up.
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Alcantara had a great career at Bayern Munich before moving to Liverpool last summer, and he’s not got off to the best start at Anfield.
That quality is clearly still there, however, with Rice singing the praises of the Spain international for the way he controls the game from the middle of the park.
“When I played against Thiago the other day for Liverpool, obviously he is a holding midfielder, it was a big lesson because he ran the game,” Rice told BBC 5 Live, as quoted by HITC.
“The ball was like on a string. It was like he dictated the tempo of the game and he has been there and done it.”
West Ham fans will no doubt like to see Rice taking the positives out of coming up against such a tough opponent, and they’ll hope he can learn from it and perhaps add something to his game as a result.
The England international is a hugely promising young talent and it could be good for him to replicate the way Alcantara can dictate the flow of games with his passing.