In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, Rob Lee, who spent one season at West Ham, believes Declan Rice should be awarded the Premier League player of the season award, despite being a holding midfielder.

Rice had played every single minute in the Premier League for West Ham this season up until his injury, and his partnership with Tomas Soucek was one of the most formidable in the league.

However, the £62,000-per-week midfielder picked up an injury while on international duty with England which has seen him miss the last few matches, and it could prove to be a big blow to West Ham's push for the Champions League - they were beaten by Newcastle United last time out.

Speaking on why Rice should be player of the season and how he is now starting to be highly regarded throughout the league, Lee told FFC:

"He should be up there for player of the year but I don't think you'll see many holding midfielders win a player of the year award, because players mainly just see skills, goals and assists.

"He is certainly highly regarded, not just at West Ham but throughout the league, and I think everyone knows that he is a good player especially for someone so young."

David Moyes has done a great job to turn the Hammers' fortunes around considering they were fighting off relegation last season and some smart signings have certainly helped them.

It may be difficult to keep their star assets such as Declan Rice if they don't qualify for Europe and Moyes has admitted that they will have to listen to offers for him and Soucek this summer.