Declan Rice showed maturity beyond his 19 years against Manchester United.
There are plenty of reasons to be hopeful about Declan Rice.
It's hard not to get blown away by the Republic of Ireland qualified defender. He's just 19 years old, yet he's a starting centre-back in the Premier League. Not only that, he backs up his selection with the requisite performances.
Sure, he's made mistakes this season, but that is to be expected for a prospect of his ilk. The important thing is that he learns from those errors and grows better because of them. From what we've seen so far, it appears as though he has done exactly that.
When Manchester United's star-studded team arrived at London Stadium, Rice didn't get spooked. He played his game and wasn't startled by the names that he was facing. He put in a good old-fashioned defensive effort and helped himself to a clean sheet.
Not only did he not give United's attack a sniff at goal, he also kept it remarkably tidy. He finished up with a 92% passing accuracy in the game. That's the type of numbers you would expect from a seasoned defender, not one who isn't old enough to remember what floppy disks were.
Rice did his job excellently on Thursday night and that didn't go unnoticed. After the final whistle blew, he received rave reviews for his performance.
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