Mateo Kovacic

[milka 3,347]

 

[NikkiCFC 7,966]

 

[Vesper 28,880]

Declan Rice: West Ham star picks the top 5 current Premier League midfielders

https://www.givemesport.com/87974558-declan-rice-west-ham-star-picks-the-top-5-current-premier-league-midfielders

Declan Rice has evolved into one of the world’s very best midfielders over the past couple of years.

He’s undoubtedly West Ham United‘s most important player these days and will be promoted to permanent captain once Mark Noble retires at the end of the 2021/22 season.

Rice is also one of the first names on Gareth Southgate’s England team sheet, which is a hugely impressive feat for a 23-year-old who doesn’t play for one of the Premier League’s established ‘top six’ clubs.

If you were to ask most fans of the English game who the current top five midfielders in the top-flight are, Rice would probably feature in the majority of lists.

But what would the West Ham man’s answer to that same question be? Well, thanks to BT Sport, we now know.

The broadcaster sat down with Rice and asked him who he believes are the five best midfielders in the Premier League right now (excluding himself, obviously) and the player’s selections are mighty interesting.

As well as making some slightly rogue calls, the young superstar provided some fascinating insight to partner each choice.

Rice’s picks in order:

Mateo Kovacic (Chelsea),

Bernardo Silva (Man City),

Rodri (Man City),

Paul Pogba (Man Utd) &

Yves Bissouma (Brighton).

So, the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, N’Golo Kante, Fabinho, Jorginho and Rice’s best pal Mason Mount all miss out.

Fair play, Declan. It just goes to show that footballer’s see the game slightly differently compared to those watching from the comfort of an armchair or in the stands.

Most fans would rank Kovacic as Chelsea’s third-best midfielder behind Kante and Jorginho, but Rice doesn’t think that way having played against the Croatian maestro on numerous occasions.

“He’s incredible, you don’t realise how good he is until you play against him,” Rice said about Kovacic. “He can take the ball in tight areas, his dribbling ability is unbelievable, he can find a pass, he can control games and is fairly quick as well.”

Rice’s opinion of Pogba is also rather eye-opening, the West Ham ace stating that the former Juventus man is one of the three best players he’s ever come up against.

“My second game for West Ham was actually at Old Trafford, we lost 4-0, I came on with hour an hour to go,” Rice said after picking Pogba. “He ran the show. I went into a 50/50 with him and I was like ‘What have I just ran into?’. He was rock solid. He was so strong.”

As for his Bissouma call, well, that’s just yet more proof that the Brighton man is destined for Premier League greatness and it’ll be a huge surprise if he doesn’t earn a move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs in the summer.

And when it comes to Silva and Rodri, we don’t need to add much, do we? They’re both world-class and would make probably 75% of top fives at a minimum.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Vesper

[DH1988 1,276]

The close control from Kova is just a beautiful thing to watch at times.

[Strike 7,222]

 

 

[ZAPHOD2319 4,489]

4 minutes ago, Strike said:

 

 

That would be huge for us,

[Blue Armour 4,292]

I know its reactionary to look to sidelined players after horrible matches, but we're missing this guy big time.

We play with a lot more assurance in CM when he's around.

[James 5,201]

[Fulham Broadway 16,869]

Man City looking to buy him instead of Bellingham (Reuters)

#gofuckyourselfpep

[dimmas 126]

I guess I'm not the only one who think midfield pair of kovavic and enzo doesn't work really that well.

Decent pairing but not complement each other. Just decent but nothing special.

 

Actually field kovavic on the field together with enzo actually brought another problem.

It's basically make enzo as our DM. Make enzo playing much deeper, that just make him less fundamental, less influential in our play

Playing enzo most of the time as our DM, not only make our defence like get protected by player who isn't supposedly play as pure defensive midfielder, who should has strong physicality, great positioning, awareness and tactical understanding to play as world class dm, but also hide certain important attributes that make enzo special as midfielder

 

Edited March 1, 2023 by dimmas

[DH1988 1,276]

On 17/03/2022 at 07:45, DH1988 said:

The close control from Kova is just a beautiful thing to watch at times.

And again tonight.

When the ball fell to him on the edge of the box, I can't be the only one who had their eyes light up for a moment 😅

[Mário César 975]

nice to hear this from him 

I ddin't know that a player tat joined from real madrid would be so happy to win a europa league Lol

[Strike 7,222]

Lot of people called him average but he's far from it. Few in the world can progress the ball upfield like him. He's average in and around the box but super useful as a player to have in midfield and has never had qualms about being rotated. 

[Fernando 6,468]

Yup he is good to have in the team especially giving his age he has maturity. 

If we can keep him good, if he wants to go then I hope he goes abroad. 

[Mário César 975]

yeah sell him to english clubs would be a shit thing to do 

its ok that he want a new challenge. no problem with that

50M and maybe we can sell him,

so...if he goes, we will need another midfield

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Mário César

[ulvhedin 507]

48 minutes ago, Tomislava10Barisic said:

I am mad Todd Boehly want sell Mateo Kovacic, Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount and 3 other....
I will miss my Croatians Mateo Kovacic & Christian Pulisic but that´s the decission and we must accept....
Was a great Time to watch on Internet with Computer the Chelsea games in the Premier League....
I SAY WISH YOU THE BEST MATEO KOVACIC, CHRISTIAN PULISIC & MASON MOUNT IN THE NEXT CLUBS!!!! 🙂 
But i hope Chelsea will buy another Croatians there are a lot good youngsters in GNK DINAMO ZAGREB!!!! 🙂 

Jesus bro, relax, noone is sold yet

[James 5,201]

 

[bluephoenix 1,126]

Bye bye Kovacic!

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/kovacic-moves-to-man-city

Time to move him out to ex-Chelsea