'Rice and Soucek would walk into Man Utd's team'
Martin Macdonald
- 17 Sept 2021 19:20 BST
- 3 min read
West Ham duo Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek would "walk" into Manchester United's starting XI, in the opinion of Trevor Sinclair.
Rice and Soucek have been key in West Ham's performances over the past year and helped the club qualify for Europe with a sixth-placed finish in the Premier League in the 2020/21 season
The England international in particular has received huge praise for his development and has been tipped for a big-money move to Man Utd and Chelsea.
Rice was previously with Chelsea as a youngster before being let go.
TRENDING
As for Man Utd, they enjoyed a positive transfer window in the summer, bringing in Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane.
Many fans and pundits still believe the club need a top-class deep-lying midfielder, however.
At the moment, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has Paul Pogba, Donny van de Beek, Fred, Scott McTominay and Nemanja Matic who can play in the holding midfield role.
Sinclair believes Soucek or Rice would present an upgrade on many from that list.
“I’ve said it last season, we were talking about this exact fixture, and I said Declan Rice and Soucek would walk into the Manchester United team," he said on talkSPORT.
“I don’t think their two or three holding midfielders would walk into the West Ham’s team.
“I think they are probably as good as you’re going to get in the Premier League at the moment.
“Soucek brings his unique running power, he’s a real boss in both boxes, and Rice with his composure and ability to run the game at the back is absolutely brilliant. The shape and the chemistry all over the pitch, everyone looks like they are enjoying playing for Moyes.”
🔥 “Declan Rice & Soucek would walk into the Man United team.”
❌ “Man Utd’s holding midfielders would not get in West Ham’s team.”
Trevor Sinclair says #WHUFC have the best defensive midfielders in the PL! ⚒ pic.twitter.com/J4nqFVzpoa— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) September 17, 2021
West Ham's start this season
The Hammers took part in their first European match of the season on Thursday and it proved to be successful as they ran out 2-0 winners away at Dinamo Zagreb.
Both Rice and Soucek started that encounter, with the former getting on the scoresheet.
The pair have played every single minute of the new Premier League campaign, with West Ham enjoying an unbeaten start.
On the first day of the season, they won 4-2 away at Newcastle and that was followed up by an impressive 4-1 home victory against Leicester.
They have, however, drawn their two subsequent matches against Crystal Palace and Southampton.
Read more about: Premier League, Man United, West Ham United, Cristiano Ronaldo, Declan Rice, Donny van de Beek, Fred, Jadon Sancho, Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba, Raphaël Varane, Scott McTominay, Tomas Soucek
