West Ham United boss Manuel Pellegrini has been talking up Declan Rice this week.
Rice has become one of West Ham’s most indispensable players this season.
Indeed he has emerged as the best young defensive midfielder in Europe’s top five leagues.
Rice’s decision to switch international allegiance from Republic of Ireland to England last week courted controversy.
It also sparked suggestions from some quarters that Rice will face a fight for a place in the England side.
But his club manager Pellegrini told the Evening Standard Rice is already England’s best defensive midfielder.
And the Chilean compared him to former Hammers outcast turned Barcelona great Javier Mascherano, who he managed as an emerging youngster at River Plate.
“I worked with so many young players,” Pellegrini told the Evening Standard.
“I started with Javier Mascherano when he was 17 years old and he was similar to Declan Rice in his mentality.
“When you have 17, 18, 19 years old to arrive to the first team, playing in the first team changes a bit your mind and you think that you are ready but in the case of Declan he knows that he is [just] starting and that is important.”
Of course Mascherano enjoyed far less success than Rice during his time at West Ham.
He was signed alongside compatriot Carlos Tevez as part of a double deal that shocked world football.
Mascherano struggled for game time under Alan Pardew who instead preferred Hayden Mullins in the deep lying midfield role at the time.
There may have been more to it, though, with reports suggesting West Ham would activate a huge transfer fee payment if Mascherano played a certain number of games.
The deal ended up costing West Ham £40 million in fines. A record £5 million fine from the Premier League for breaking third party ownership rules and £35 million in compensation to relegated Sheffield United.
Mascherano moved on to Liverpool where he started to show his undoubted class.
There he remained until he became part of the Pep Guardiola team regarded as one of the best of all time.