Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has been heaping praise on West Ham central midfield duo Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek this week.
The pair played both pivotal roles in guiding the Hammers to a 22-year high sixth-place finish in the Premier League – seeing West Ham qualify for the Europa League next season.
Both stars have received plaudits from across the footballing landscape at various points this season, as up until a late injury to Rice the duo were an ever-present feature in David Moyes’ side.
Neville, a 12 times Premier League winner with the Red Devils has joined the long list of admirers when speaking on his own podcast.
This year to play the way they have with Antonio with Fornals with Bowen and with Benrahma. All the quality players they have, they’re really good players. Lingard came in the last few months of the season. In midfield, Rice and Soucek, they’ve been as good any pair you’ll see with the way they’ve performed consistently.
In 32 league outings, this season Rice earned an average Sofascore rating of 7.08 whilst Soucek was even more impressive with his 7.16 rating.
So often performing alongside one another, the Irons pair will face off in the coming weeks when England meet the Czech Republic in the group stages of the upcoming Euro 2020 tournament.
READ WEST HAM VERDICT
Both men have been equally imperative to Moyes’ side this term – providing the driving force and the engine room behind the successes.
One thing that is evident ahead of next season is that the Irons can’t rely solely on the pair for the entire campaign.
With the additional workload of European competition placed on the squad, Moyes will be desperate to source a suitable understudy.
