Declan Rice - The Rising Star

Football is one sports exercise that has successfully achieved a very firm grip on our lives. Present day society cannot complete its narrative without explaining the effects of sports and the most popular sports in the world at present is football. This sport has given the world a lot in entertainment, and has made a lot of financial inroads into people’s lives and in building great business empires.
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One other good thing about football is that it keeps creating and throwing heroes at people who love and follow it. These heroes are people who achieve exceptional feats in the field of football based hugely on their God given talents or through the results of sheer hard work.

One of the potential heroes of the football world is the kid named Declan Rice. Many people have not heard his name before and actually did not know his history until his performance at the Wembley Stadium. West Ham did yet another big one against their perennial city rivals, and he contributed hugely. The Hammers have never won the Carabao Cup, since it was established. Since their resurgence as a strong mid-table team in England, they have been struggling to achieve such feat. However, the morale booster came when they defeated their city rivals that have spent more money than them over the past years to progress to the next round of the cup competition. More significant about this victory over their age long foes is the fact that they were 2-0 before halftime, only to produce three amazing goals during the second half to win Spurs on their home ground.

One man stood out in the game, not because he got the goals that sealed their victory. He stood out because he is one of the youngest lads in the team and he held down his defensive position without any errors all through the game.
After the game, the 18 year old Declan, who was given the rare opportunity to play at one of the most prestigious stadiums in the entire world, commended the experience. He told the official website of the club of how amazing it feels to come to the Wembley Stadium and beat Tottenham. This is his first game as a football player here, though he has previously visited the stadium on many occasions as a fan. He spoke of how majority of the fans believed that they were down and out after the first half of the game, and how their half time meeting helped to prop them into action. They actually showed what they are made of after that. He could not hide his excitement at the outcome of the game. So, he posited that he had never been in such a situation before and that he sees the night as the best night of his life so far.

Rice was born in London on the 14th of January, 1999, but his parents are of Irish roots from the city of Cork. He started his footballing career with the Chelsea youth team, but later moved to West Ham where he has been the captain of the under 23 squad. However, in April 2017, he was called up to the man team in games against Sunderland and Everton. But his senior debut was in the game against Burnley on the last day of 2016–17 Premier League season. He was also called up by the republic of Ireland on the 23rd of May 2017 for their games against Mexico, Uruguay and Austria, though he did not play in any of those.
However, it should be noted that his heroics started when the West Ham under 23 Captain was handed a substitute position in the center of midfield alongside the more experienced Pedro Obiang in a match against Manchester united. When he came in to replace the current captain of West Ham, it did not take up to 10 minutes before his brilliance shined bright. The 18 year old has an amazing positional sense that will take him places in football. He also has a knack for
organizing the people around him, and this is very imperative for central midfielders like him.

It did not take up to 30 minutes in the pitch before the kid completed 22 out of the 23 passes he made. That was his second appearance in the English premier league and he ended it with a rating of 95.7% in terms of passes completed. Of course, the chief attribute of any good central midfielder involves passes, because the midfield is the area from where the game is normally built. It was after this game that many people started taking interest in the lad. You cannot possibly put up the level of composed performance he did at the Old Trafford at his age and not be a huge star in the making. When you to play in a midfield against huge names like Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba as opposing numbers, and make 28 amazing touches within a short duration of time, you are good. There is another thing that makes people fall in love with this young star. While he is waxing strong with those skills that Pogba and Konte are known for up front, he combines it with the defensive prowess of Mikel Obi. He was always seen in the game going back to cover for Arthur Masuaku and Pablo Zabaleta whenever they move out or overlap.

He is also not the Fabregas type of fearful play, as he always asserts his presence and is never afraid of going in for those tackles. You should get a view of his challenge of Eric Bailly, his stoppage of Marcus Rashford at the penalty area after a clearance and his interception of Pogba’s pass. They are all testament to his diverse skills and versatility.

The teenager will only turn 19 in January next year, but he is doing great things already. He is bringing those attributes that position people for a great career in the game to the table. They include the right attitude and character, the right stature and physique and the right skills and intelligence. However, he has to add humility and hard work to these, and he will get to a place where the football world will chant his name. He is already the Irish under 17 player of the year and many top clubs are monitoring his progress for a potential deal, what are the odds on him being snapped up by a 'bigger' club?

This article was written for us by rising star journalist Alex Norwood - Ed