Ex-West Ham boss Slaven Bilic was impressed with Declan Rice

Slaven Bilic, the former West Ham manager who gave Declan Rice his professional debut at the age of 18, says the youngster’s tactical discipline marked him down as an ideal holding midfield player.

Rice was regarded as a centre back when he started training with the Hammers first team but has since reverted to midfield where he is expected to win his second England cap against Montenegro on Monday following an injury to Tottenham’s Eric Dier.

‘From the first moment he trained with us, we noticed he was a serious guy, a big professional, crazy to learn,’ said Bilic, who introduced Rice as a substitute against Burnley in May 2017 and then gave him a first start at Southampton the following August.

‘He has a bit of everything; very strong in the tackle, good in positioning himself, decent quick and hungry for the second ball.

‘We got him mainly as a centre-back in training, then we put him as a holding midfielder because he keeps the position there and can pass the ball.

‘He’s like the metronome, he keeps the balance of the team, doesn’t go up or down or left or right. He stays in position which was unbelievably mature for his age.’

Bilic gave Rice his first nine appearances including a famous League Cup win at Spurs before the Croatian was sacked in November 2017, with the player then developing further under David Moyes.

Ironically, Bilic had conversations as a West Ham player with an emerging Rio Ferdinand, telling him he had the technical qualities to be a good midfielder, but could be a world-class central defender.

At just over 6ft, Rice isn’t as tall as Ferdinand and Bilic believes he is right to keep all his options open.

‘He’s doing exactly the right thing to play in different areas of the pitch and see which one he is most suited to. He is learning all the time,’ said Bilic.

‘I remember how happy and proud he was to come off the bench against Burnley for his step. Since then he’s shown everything you need in midfield. To take the next step to be world-class, you need that cleverness in passing, like we have in Croatia with Luka Modric or Ivan Rakitic.

‘Declan liked to smile and laugh but he was serious about listening and playing the game, that is why he was involved at such a young age. We liked to bring players in from the academy and under-23s to to train with us but not many were able to take on the information.

'He was unbelievable and though I couldn’t say he was a regular at 18, he was always involved.'