Nuno wants to sign a star with shades of Rice for West Ham

West Ham United have had unhealthy luck in recent times relating to reinforcements.

On the one hand, the Hammers seem to have lastly discovered the suitable supervisor in Nuno Espirito Santo and genuinely gifted gamers in Matheus Fernandes and Callum Wilson.

Nonetheless, the East Londoners have additionally had their fair proportion of contract slumps and have not likely been capable of finding an acceptable substitute for Declan Rice.

Thankfully, which will change quickly, with experiences linking the membership to worldwide gamers like Rice.

Stars like Rice focused by West Ham

Throughout his time in East London, Rice made 245 appearances for West Ham, scoring 15 objectives and offering 13 assists.

The Englishman’s position developed from a purely defensive position to extra of an all-action midfielder by the point he left for a whopping £105 million.

It could be no exaggeration to say that the membership has continued to make efforts since then, however has not been capable of finding an acceptable substitute, or somebody near it.

The excellent news is that the seek for stars much like Rice might quickly come to an finish.

No less than that is in line with a latest report from TEAMtalk claiming that West Ham are considering Ruben Neves.

The report claims Nuno desires to carry his former participant to the London Stadium in January or the summer season and has already requested the membership to think about a deal.

Nonetheless, whereas the Portuguese star is open to a return to English soccer, he’s additionally attracting curiosity from the likes of Manchester United and Newcastle United, who might provide him a extra engaging mission.

All in all, it may very well be a sophisticated switch to recover from the road, however given Neves’ capacity, particularly with Nuno on the helm, West Ham ought to battle for him as he may very well be the membership’s subsequent Rice.

Comparability of Neves and Rice

Now, it have to be mentioned that whereas Neves is a superb participant for West Ham and may very well be the long-awaited substitute for Rice, it might be unfair to anticipate him to be nearly as good as he’s.

The Englishman is a bona fide world-class participant and the Portuguese star might definitely get there, however whereas he would most likely take a half-step down in high quality, he would nonetheless be an enormous improve over what the membership has right this moment.

That being mentioned, what similarities do the gamers have?

Effectively, firstly, like the previous Hammers star, the Al Hilal monster is somebody who can play a number of completely different roles in the midst of the park.

For instance, his most performed place is defensive midfield, however he additionally made 75 appearances for the membership in central midfield, exhibiting that he will be an all-action midfield disruptor when wanted.

Secondly, the Santa María da Feira-born maestro is good at taking set items, together with free kicks, nook kicks and penalty kicks.

For instance, he has taken seven direct free kicks and 18 penalty kicks in his senior profession, in addition to some absolute screamers.

Moreover, like Rice throughout his time in East London, the 63-cap worldwide most likely didn’t play for a ‘huge six’ crew in England, so he might not have obtained the popularity he deserved. That is why analyst Raj Chauhan as soon as referred to as Rice “essentially the most underrated participant in world soccer.”

Lastly, above all, FBref ranked Neves because the seventh most related midfielder to Rice within the Premier League for the 22/23 season.

They got here to this conclusion as a result of the 2 ranked intently on standards resembling non-penalty anticipated objectives and assists, progressive and key passes, tackles and interceptions, and carries, all on a 90-point scale.

In the long run, West Ham ought to do all the pieces of their energy to signal Neves in 2026, though it could be tough to get this deal accomplished. He is an distinctive participant and may very well be the substitute for Rice, which they’ve wanted for nearly three years.