For several years after his departure, Arsenal were continually told – even in the most primitive ages of modern media – that they needed to sign a true successor to Patrick Vieira. The long-serving midfielder and captain chose to leave only a year after the Gunners’ famous ‘Invincibles’ season, taking himself to a Juventus side on the brink of the ‘Calciopoli’ scandal which would lead to their relegation.
The problem with that tale is twofold. Firstly, it actually ignores that Arsenal’s prince waiting to take the midfield throne, a then-teenage Cesc Fabregas, took Vieira for a walk when the north Londoners knocked Juve out of the Champions League on their way to the 2006 final. Fabregas is a different sort of player, so that part is forgivable. But how are you meant to go about replacing one of the finest players of their generation, let alone when navigating an era of stadium debt?
Arsenal had to wait nearly two decades to acquire a worthy heir to Vieira’s throne, and that came at the cost of £105 million. Step forward, Declan Rice, the captain of neighbours West Ham and a core member of the England setup. To his testament, there was little baulking at the price tag he came with, and Rice has looked worth every penny since swapping east London for north.
Rice has hit the checkpoints to become a person who will be in the lives of football fans one way or another for a generation. The legacy he’s writing for himself is approaching the stuff of legend.
No one expected Rice to be this good. Not even close. When he first emerged at West Ham as a defensive midfielder who could slot in between the centre-backs, it was widely said his ceiling was as an Eric Dier-type player – a good-not-great starter for a team in the top six.
To his credit, Rice became more than simply a water carrier. It felt as if he was adding new parts to his game all the time, evolving from a destroyer to a tempo-setter to a box-to-box behemoth. It was no coincidence this aligned with West Ham’s swift reversal from relegation candidates to European regulars considering they turned a youth academy graduate into a multi-million pound midfielder with remarkable consistency
Going hand-in-hand with Rice’s technical and physical qualities – he’s known as ‘The Horse’ nowadays due to the latter – was a mental resilience, particularly when the Hammers were lingering at the wrong end of the Premier League table. “Probably my most challenging moment was in the 2018-19 season,” Rice told HYPEBEAST in 2022. “We lost 4-0 to Liverpool and I was dragged off at half-time. For the next two games, I was left out of the squad, so then I asked to go out on loan and was told no. In those tough times, you think you’re not cut out for it, because you had a bad 45 minutes. Then we went on to play Everton, I was named Man of the Match and I haven’t really looked back. It was a test of mindset, of character, and just believing in my ability.
Rice, a self-aware footballer in keeping with the times, was very conscious of his development too. “I am not just a holding midfielder anymore,” he said to Sky Sports in a piece which likened him to more advanced midfielders in Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard. “I was always labelled as one that just sits in front of the back four, I really now want to see myself as a box-to-box player where I can get up and down and create things as well as getting back and helping the team.”
