David Moyes hopes Declan Rice would step up to fill the void left by retired Mark Noble. “There is a big void,” said the West Ham manager as he took a break from the team’s pre-season preparations at the club’s east London training base.
“I can feel it now because he played such a big part, pulling the players together, doing lots of things and keeping them close. He was really important for us.”
“I know I’m going to be captain of West Ham for this season and it’s an honour,” Rice said earlier in the day. “To take it from Nobes is special. It’s a dream. To be captain of any club in the world is an honour and to captain West Ham with the history behind the club is special.”
“Now Dec has to step up to another level of not just how he plays on the pitch. But his leadership off the pitch. And dealing with a lot of the other things that go on,” David Moyes hopes.
“He’s a young man who is still learning. And maybe it was a little bit easier for him being captain. Last season knowing Mark Noble was in the building and those two could work it out.
“But hopefully we’ve surrounded him with Lukasz Fabianski. And Aaron Cresswell, Angelo Ogbonna. People who have been at the club a long time. And can help him with their experience.”
