He’s been earmarked as ‘the new Bobby Moore’ at West Ham for some while now, and some are even talking of Declan Rice replicating his contemporary at international level too.
Though the comparisons will arguably be welcomed by Rice himself, former Chelsea and England legend, Alan Hudson, believes he has a long, long way to go before he can be considered to be in the same bracket as the player that many believe is one of England’s greatest ever.
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“Our record as ever in build-up and qualifying matches make us look like the Hungarians of the 50s and the Brazilians of the 60s and 1970, but you know what comes next,” Hudson told CaughtOffside.
“[Declan] Rice is the perfect England robotic midfield player, big and strong, who I would have played against at school.
“The big boy who is so intimidating… but it remains to be seen if he can be a ‘tough guy’ against the bigger nations.”
As Hudson attests, it’s tournament football, when the opposition is generally of a much higher standard, when players should really be judged.
Rice has the ability to go on to be one of the greats.
However, he’ll need to step up and lead from the front as England go looking for their first title win of note since Moore climbed the steps at Wembley in 1966 to raise the Jules Rimet Trophy aloft.