Tottenham legend Glenn Hoddle believes West Ham vice captain Declan Rice is currently the best player in the Premier League.
The 22-year-old has seen his stock skyrocket over the past few campaigns, playing a pivotal role in West Ham’s sixth-placed finish in the Premier League last season, as well as starring for England as they reached the Euro 2020 final in the summer.
David Moyes has long batted away suggestions that Rice is in the shop window, with a host of elite Premier League clubs thought to be keeping tabs on his progress in east London, recently slapping a price tag of over £100m on his midfield fulcrum.
The Hammers boss said the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United, both of whom have been linked with Rice, missed out on a bargain £100m price for Rice in the summer, and that fee has since gone up, which would take him past the British record paid for Jack Grealish were a bid to materialise.
This season Rice has once again been inspirational for the club as they currently sit third in the Premier League table, first in Group H of the Europa League, and have a League Cup quarter-final ticket, having eliminated Manchester United and champions Manchester City from the competition.
Given his continued quality in the heart of West Ham’s midfield, and the upward trajectory the club are heading in, Spurs legend Hoddle believes he is operating at a level above and beyond any player currently plying their trade in the Premier League.
“I think we’ve got some unbelievable players,” Hoddle told talkSPORT of England’s deep talent pool.
“I think Declan Rice is the best player in the Premier League, he’s going to get better and better.”
Hoddle went on to sing the praises of Phil Foden, who is also standing out in a thriving Premier League side under the careful watch of Pep Guardiola at Man City.
He continued: “For me, I think Phil Foden in three years time could be the best player in the world.
“I think with England, the way we play, he’s got everything. He understands the game.
“I saw him when he was 17, when they won the [2017] Youth World Cup, he was head and shoulders above anyone on the pitch.
“And I said it at the time, he looked more South American than the South American teams [he faced at the time].
“He can score goals, he ends up in the six-yard box, he knows how to penetrate into the box, he’s an intelligent player. He really is. He’s got everything, for me.”