Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes congratulated Declan Rice after the Arsenal and England man made his 300th Premier League appearance during their 4-0 win over Leeds.
Rice, 27, is the fifth-youngest player to reach that milestone. United icon Wayne Rooney is the record holder at 26 years and 58 days.
James Milner (26 years and 117 days), Gareth Barry (26 years and 247 days) and Raheem Sterling (26 years and 348 days) are the only others to do it quicker than Rice (27 years and 17 days). Fernandes, himself, reached 200 Premier League appearances earlier this season in the 2-1 win over Chelsea at Old Trafford.
He also scored his 100th goal across all competitions for United in that game. Fernandes has now hailed Rice for achieving an even higher milestone.
The England international captioned his post on Saturday night “300 Premier League appearances,” punctuated by a red heart emoji. Fernandes commented, “Class,” an hour later, and added a clapping hands emoji.
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Both have plenty of respect for each other – regardless of the rivalry between their clubs – and have exchanged shirts after a match before – albeit when Rice was playing for West Ham. Fernandes revealed that back in March, during an interview with Inside United about his shirt collection.
Fernandes said: “Declan Rice, when he was still at West Ham, he asked me, at the time, when we swapped because I know he does have a big collection.” The United captain explained: “I have exchanged shirts with players who play in my position, who I really like, and I really think that they are top-class players.”
The pair have also worked together three years ago during a summer training camp in Portugal before pre-season began. A clip from that camp showed Rice hugging Fernandes after the Portuguese player hit the post with a first-time volley during some shooting practice.
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