Declan Rice is a professional football player, who plays as a central defensive midfielder for West Ham United and the England International team. Rice was born on the 14th January 1999, in Kingston upon Thames, Greater London.
Balancing Education And Academy Football
Rice attended Grey Court School in the London Borough of Richmond from the age of 11 whilst he was at Chelsea’s academy, until he joined West Ham’s academy aged 14. During his West Ham Academy days he attended Robert Clack School, in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham.
Comfortable playing as a centre-back or defensive midfielder, the tall, strong, versatile Rice captained the Hammers at U16, U18 and U23 level. At 19, he finished as runner-up in the Hammer of the Year voting, before winning the award in 2019/20.
England National Allegiance Controversy
From 2015-18 he represented Republic of Ireland, making 20 appearances for them. This is because his grandparents were from Douglas, County Cork in Ireland.
The Kingston-upon-Thames born player switched his international allegiance from Republic of Ireland to England in March 2019 and has since featured at UEFA Nations League finals and in both UEFA European Championship and FIFA World Cup qualifying.
Professional Career Gets Going
On the last day of the 2016-17 Premier League season he came on as a substitute for Edimilson Fernandes in the 91st minute against Burnley, which gave him his senior squad debut. He has not looked back since playing 155 games in six seasons for West Ham.
He made his England Debut for the Senior Squad on 22nd March 2019 against Czech Republic at Wembley Stadium, coming on as a substitute for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier. He has been capped 27 times by England.
Individual Honours
– Republic of Ireland under 17 Player of the year (2016)
– West Ham United Young Player of the Year Award (2016-17), (2017-18)
– FAI Young International Player of the Year award (2018)
– West Ham United Player of the Year Award (2019-20)
Priceless Rice Is Tactically Sound
West Ham boss David Moyes told Sky Sports that “[he] is worth more than £100 million and is a future England Captain.”
England manager Gareth Southgate praised Declan Rice, quoted on the official West Ham site as saying “Declan is a real tactical sponge for technical information and observations on his game and is desperate to be the best he can possibly be.”
Elements Of His Game That Are Superb
West Ham fan Francis Livingston says “one of Rice’s strengths is that he is a very good defender and over the years West Ham haven’t had many defenders as good as Declan.”
Another fan Stewart Morgan says “Rice is versatile since he can play both in the middle of the park and at the back.”
West Ham fan James Philip says “his offensive ability is amazing, he really knows how to pass a ball out there.”
Elements Of His Game That Need Improvement
Hammers Fan Alex Stokes says “a weakness of his is his pace, if he was much faster he would be more of a problem in that midfield.”
Harry Olsen says “Declan Rice’s duals in the air are quite poor”.
Life Outside Of Football
Rice is in a long term relationship with Lauren Fryer. The two have been dating since they were teenagers. Declan and Lauren started their relationship in 2017.
Declan Rice made a joke that his girlfriend is jealous of his friendship with the Chelsea star, Mason Mount.
He is an ambassador of the DT38 Foundation which is a charity organization that has been set up in memory of Dylan James Tombides.
Basic Facts
Height – 1.85 metres
Foot – Right
Weight – 80 kg
Shirt Number – 41
Intriguing Facts
-He became the first West Ham player since Trevor Brooking in June 1981 to score for England when he netted the fourth in a 4-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying win in Hungary on 2nd September 2021
-Born of Irish descent, Declan Rice’s Religion is Christianity
-Declan Rice has never had beer, he doesn’t like the smell of it
-His England teammate, Aaron Ramsdale, revealed Rice is not that bad of a singer
– Declan Rice was a childhood Chelsea fan
