‘A quick learner’: how Declan Rice went from Chelsea reject to Arsenal’s Rolls-Royce

Midfielder will be part of the conversation for a Ballon d’Or if he continues his ascent with trophies for club and country.

Crystal Palace's goalkeeper Walter Benitez saves a shot by Arsenal's Declan Rice during the English Football League Cup quarter-final. Pic: AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Declan Rice likes to call it “clean feedback”, which sounds like a euphemism for a bollocking, though he would probably say that is a misconception. Rather, it is part of the reason why Rice is being discussed as one of the best players in the world.

“You can’t eff and blind, you can’t bully people,” says Terry Westley, the head of West Ham’s academy when Rice was there. “But we should be able to have a conversation and say: ‘Look, that ain’t quite good enough and we want to help you because this is what we need to do.’