"I Went Too Early!" - Gary Neville Admits He Was 'Completely Wrong' About One Of The Premier League's Best Players
Gary Neville has admitted he was 'completely wrong' about West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice in an honest post on social media.
Rice has established himself as one of the Premier League's best midfielders in the last two years and a number of top clubs are chasing his signature.
The 23-year-old had to convince Neville however and the Sky Sports pundit acknowledged he 'went too early' in his assessment.
"Thought of the Week: ‘Don’t go too early’," Neville posted on LinkedIn.
"This is something that I often say to myself in punditry. You form a view on something either in haste or we always tell ourselves sayings like ‘trust your first instincts’, ‘I knew I didn’t like them after five minutes’.
"However I interviewed Declan Rice this week for the overlap and I judged him as a young player at West Ham.
"I have to say I got it completely wrong. What an outstanding young person.
"Authoritative, confident, humble and quite simply the most impressive young footballer I’ve interviewed in 11 years.
"He’s also a fantastic talent and I went too early!"
Rice isn't club captain, but regularly wears the armband with Hammers skipper Mark Noble's career coming to a close.
The England international has made 28 appearances in all competitions so far this season and scored three goals.
He's grown to be confident on the ball and drives forward more, after being a defensive player in his formative years.
Manchester United are reportedly monitoring Rice ahead of a potential summer transfer.
It'll likely cost in excess of £100 million to bring him to Old Trafford and midfield is a problem position for the Red Devils.
Interim manager Ralf Rangnick is keen to strengthen in that position but his thoughts on Rice are currently unknown.
West Ham boss David Moyes said last year that he wouldn't want to sanction any move for Rice given his importance to the team.
"I look at the players who have joined some clubs from overseas and come in and nowhere near had the impact Declan Rice would have," he told Sky Sports.
"I certainly wouldn't put a price on it.
"You can decide which figure you want to put on it but I wouldn't be sanctioning anything like that, that's for sure."
Topics: Declan Rice, West Ham United, Manchester United, Gary Neville
Daniel Marland