Before Declan Rice joined The Arsenal, he was a top, top midfielder.
It is a testament to both Rice and Mikel Arteta that in their short time working together, Rice has quickly progressed and is now a world class performer and captained his country.
Harry Kane will be 33-years-old at the next World Cup.Whilst he has been a settling, non-controversial influence off the pitch, he has never really been a natural leader on it.
With Gareth Southgate likely to step down at the end of the Euro’s, a new manager will want to quickly imprint his own ideas on the squad – and that sort of change will likely see some of the old guard (Jordan Henderson, Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker) cast aside for younger players who will be seen as the future of English football (Kobbie Mainoo, Jared Braithwaite, etc).
A new generation of England players should see a new England captain announced, and that man will likely be Declan Rice.
Whilst not wearing the armband for Arsenal, he is a natural leader. I would not be surprised to see him announced as our vice-captain next season, and he would certainly be in line to inherit the armband if Martin Odegaard departed. For England, that honour could come sooner.
Against Belgium, Southgate named him captain for his 50th cap.
Now yes, Kane was out, vice-captain Jordan Henderson warming the bench and Kyle Walker (who wore the armband against Brazil) in the medical room. Harry Maguire, who Walker gave the armband to, was also on the bench. But Kane aside, none of the other names will be around come the 2026 World Cup.
Becoming England’s captain is the most logical next step for Declan Rice.
Since leaving West Ham, Rice has become the best defensive midfielder in the world. There is no argument. He can do everything that Rodri does, but to a higher level. Throw in his set pieces and growing goal contribution, he is a much bigger threat at both ends of the pitch.
With 6 Premier League goals this season, he is only one away from Rodri’s best career output (7). And the difference between the two is Rodri is, at 28, is at his peak. Meanwhile, we are seeing Rice continuing to improve and adapt his game playing under the first top coach of his career.
Where Rice has taken his game to a new level since leaving West Ham is he no longer sees his job to merely be “stop, block, intercept, clear, reset”.
At Arsenal, the game is not about getting the ball up the pitch and then wait for the next wave of attack. After he has won the ball, he now gets his head up and decides how we will transition the ball from defence to attack, releasing the pressure by starting our attacking plays.
Once Rice has won the ball, he now looks for a forward passing opportunity to a team mate, rather than just smashes the ball clear into the channels for a Michail Antonio or Jarrod Bowen to run on to. Of course, it helps he is playing with better players at The Arsenal, and playing with better players make you a better player.
Rice does not just look to make a simple pass, however, when trying to launch an attack. He is also Patrick Vieira-esque in the way he can drive forward with the ball at his feet.
When Rice gets going, he is nearly impossible to stop. Like with Vieira and Yaya Toure, he is a mountain of a man who is nearly impossible to fairly dispossess, and has enough pace that when he brushes off an opponent, he can run clear.
I have lost count how often he has broken through the lines this season, running with the ball from the mid-way of our own half deep into the opponents. This not only releases the pressure but also creates attacking opportunities.
And again, this is what sets him apart from Rodri who is much more of a static midfielder.
What is impressive about Rice is that Yaya and Vieira needed someone in behind them (Fernandinho, Petit/Gilberto) who did the bulk of the defensive work. Rice gets through the defensive work of Gilberto and the transitional play of Vieira. He really is two players in one.
When we signed Rice for £105million, West Ham fans flooded social media with their delight that they had secured such a big fee. Claims that we had overpaid for him, that West Ham had turned us over.
“Not worth more than £80m” some of their big Twitter accounts claimed. “He held us back, we will rebuild better” was also another comment I saw a lot.
West Ham without Declan Rice are now back to crying about David Moyes. Arsenal with Declan Rice are top of the table. What is Rice’s value now? £150m? £200m? Who knows. He is going nowhere.
UTA
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
Utter delusional nonsense. Always destined to be England captain. He has improved but that is irrelevant and you cannot help but attach your club to his personal achievement. The best argument for Arsenal is Southgate’s conciliatory nod to ‘big’ clubs.
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So desperate to claim Declan Rice’s achievement is due to Arsenal, which of course it isn’t.
Declan was raised and moulded by West Ham since the age of 14, we watched him develop into the player he is now and always knew he was destined to be an England captain, following in the footsteps of Bobby Moore.
I watch Arsenal just to watch Declan Rice and other than recently been given more attacking responsibilities he’s much the same player that led West Ham to European glory.
Arsenal fans, desperate for a genuine connection to Declan will never have that and he’ll never say anything of the sort. The connection he has with the West Ham support was and is authentic and will always be. COYI
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Following in the footsteps of Tony Adams.
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