{"id":232115,"date":"2025-07-02T13:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T13:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/232115\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T13:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T13:41:10","slug":"kevin-nolan-makes-ballon-dor-claim-about-former-west-ham-star-he-likens-to-steven-gerrard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/232115\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Nolan makes Ballon D’Or claim about former West Ham star he likens to Steven Gerrard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is nothing former West Ham United assistant Kevin Nolan would like more than one of his old charges at the London Stadium joining Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kaka, Luka Modric and co in the storied list of Ballon D\u2019Or winners.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No Englishman has picked up football\u2019s most prestigious individual honour since Michael Owen a quarter of a century ago.<\/p>\n

In fact, no Englishman has even featured on the podium since Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard missed out to Ronaldinho in 2005. <\/p>\n

Speaking of a certain Liverpool legend, while Kevin Nolan<\/a> dreams of Declan Rice<\/a> one day parading the Ballon D\u2019Or around the Arsenal dressing room, he also views the former West Ham United<\/a> captain as the closest thing the Premier League has seen to a second coming of Steven Gerrard.<\/p>\n

Rice is still awaiting his first trophy as an Arsenal player<\/a>, much to the delight of the less forgiving members of the West Ham United fanbase. But, as Rice develops into \u2018one of the best in the world\u2019<\/a> and adds a Gerrard-esque goal streak to his already extraordinarily broad skillset, Nolan feels that there are really no limits to how high he can fly.<\/p>\n

\"KevinPhoto by MI News\/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesKevin Nolan wants former West Ham United captain Declan Rice to win the Ballon D\u2019Or<\/p>\n

Nolan, who worked alongside David Moyes from 2000 to 2004, watched on with pride as Rice lifted the Europa Conference League trophy a couple of years back. <\/p>\n

Former West Ham left-back Patrice Evra felt Rice\u2019s \u2018humility\u2019 was the standout attribute<\/a> which had him destined for greatness; that insatiable drive for self-improvement. Nolan speaks in similar tones, highlighting the fierce determination off the pitch which bled into his performances on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoved working with him. What a guy. He\u2019s just a genuine lad, great footballer, wants to work hard, wants to play every game\u2026\u201d Nolan tells talkSPORT<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s just got an appetite for football that I would love my lad to have, you know.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a great lad to have around the dressing room but he\u2019s a real leader as well. I just can\u2019t give him enough accolades. I could sit here all day and talk about Declan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nolan says Arsenal midfielder reminds him of Steven Gerrard<\/p>\n

Nolan accepts that West Ham were always likely to lose a footballer who quite clearly belonged on the Champions League stage, season after season. <\/p>\n

Rice\u2019s stunning brace against Real Madrid last season was vindication, too, for a coach who once begged him to make better use of his impressive ball-striking talents.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cYou obviously saw that incredible night not so long ago when he scored the free-kicks, he could do that all the time! I was always on him about shooting. We used to have a few arguments!,\u201d recalls Nolan, who is now the head coach of Northampton Town in League One and encouraged youngster Kamarai Swyer to swap West Ham for Sixfields<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201c[I would say] \u2018hit the ball\u2019, because he can\u2019t half hit a ball, and the way he hits it as well\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he\u2019s such a nice lad and someone you love working with every day. It was a pleasure and I\u2019m just glad I got to work with him on a daily basis for those few years.<\/p>\n

\"StevenPhoto credit should read steve parkin\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just great seeing him now. I want to see him succeed, win trophies and win a Ballon D\u2019Or. He deserves it because of what a great lad he is.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew he had that [goalscoring streak] in him but we also knew he could do the other side of it as well. The biggest thing I could say is that he is the closest thing I\u2019ve ever seen to Steven Gerrard, and I believe Steven Gerrard is the best midfielder the Premier League has ever had. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe most complete midfielder. You could put him anywhere on the pitch and he\u2019d do a good job, and that\u2019s what Dec can do. He\u2019s the closest I have ever seen [to Gerrard]. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll his attributes, the way he runs, the style, you could put Dec right-back and he would do a job for you.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is nothing former West Ham United assistant Kevin Nolan would like more than one of his old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[161,1614,2920,94,91120,101,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-232115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-arsenal","9":"tag-champions-league","10":"tag-declan-rice","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-kevin-nolan","13":"tag-premier-league","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114783930890745243","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}