Declan Rice will relish Enzo Fernandez duel when West Ham face Chelsea

Declan Rice will relish a battle with Enzo Fernandez when West Ham take on Chelsea, says David Moyes… who enquired about the Argentina star before the World Cup – but was put off by his price tag!

• Rice and Fernandez will go head-to-head in the lunch-time kick-off on Saturday
• The duo are two of the brightest talents and best midfielders in the league
• Moyes reveled he spoke to Benfica manager Roger Schmidt about Fernandez

Declan Rice will not be afraid of facing Enzo Fernandez on Wednesday with West Ham manager David Moyes saying if anything, it will be the other way around.

Chelsea’s Fernandez is the current British transfer record, having cost £105million from Benfica in January. Rice is tipped to break that fee when he leaves West Ham, potentially this summer.

Moyes on Friday revealed he spoke to Benfica boss Roger Schmidt about Fernandez in November, prior to the 2022 World Cup. Asked if that was because he was interested in signing the 22-year-old Argentinian, West Ham’s manager jokingly said: ‘Not when I heard the price I wasn’t!’ 

Moyes said Rice was relishing Saturday’s lunchtime showdown at the London Stadium and that Fernandez would have been thinking about the midfield battle which will ensue with the 24-year-old Englishman.

‘He might be thinking similar about playing against Dec,’ Moyes said. ‘Dec loves his football. We watch and we talk about all the good players and Enzo Fernandez is an excellent player. He showed it in the World Cup.

David Moyes has rebuffed claims that Declan Rice will fear facing Enzo Fernandez on Saturday

Fernandez (left) joined Chelsea for £105million in January, while Rice (right) has been tipped for a big future when he leaves West Ham

‘I knew about him when he was at Benfica. I spoke to the Benfica manager about him in November who’d given him incredible praise about how good of a player he was. So I knew he was on the radar.

‘Obviously the World Cup highlighted what his capabilities were. We try to give the players the information we can about the opposition.

‘The players aren’t daft. They’ll have watched the World Cup and seen recent Premier League games. But it’s quite difficult with Chelsea because they have got so many new players in.’ 

West Ham will make a late decision on whether to start to Danny Ings, the striker who was an 81st-minute substitute against Newcastle after recovering from his knee injury.

A late call will be made on whether Danny Ings, who has struggled with injury, can play

Source: Read Full Article