Declan Rice has said that he was pushing for a loan move to Aston Villa before making his Premier League breakthrough with West Ham United.
The midfielder started the Hammers' first game of last season against Liverpool but was taken off after just 45 minutes with the east London side 2-0 down at Anfield.
Rice was then left out of the next three matches under Manuel Pellegrini, and told Four Four Two of how he was contemplating a short-term move from the London Stadium.
He said: "I wanted to go to Aston Villa under Steve Bruce.
“I remember speaking to Ryan Fredericks on the plane on the way home, and I was thinking that I should go on loan.
“Being dragged off at Anfield and then being left out of the squad for the next couple of matches, it really made me think.
“West Brom, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa wanted me. I was pushing for Villa the most. I remember speaking to the manager here, saying that I should go on loan.
"He just laughed it off and said, ‘You’re not going on loan!’ He said, ‘You’re going to stay, and you’re going to play’. He told me that I had to get back into the team.
“I thought, ‘Well, if I’m not going to go on loan, then I have to give it everything here’. I realised that I needed to get much better if I wanted to play in the Premier League.”
Thankfully for Declan Rice things certainly worked out with the midfielder with the 20-year-old now a West Ham regular as well as being called up to the England squad for the upcoming internationals.
.png?w=600)
