The footage was widely circulated on social media on Sunday afternoon to the backdrop of West Ham fans singing a song at their last home game of the season. ‘One more year, one more year, Declan Rice,’ they chanted, ‘one more year, one more year, I say, playing football the West Ham way.’
The camera phone was fixed on Rice as he stood near the centre circle at the London Stadium during a break in play in West Ham’s victory over Leeds United. Rice knows the song. He has acknowledged it before and now he acknowledged it again. He tapped his finger to his forehead to let the fans know he was listening.
West Ham fans want Rice to stay but they know he is going to leave and it is a small curiosity of what is likely to be one of the most high-profile moves of the summer for one of England’s most popular players that it appears their captain will go with their blessing.
A harmonious parting is a rare thing in football and it says much for the generosity of spirit of West Ham supporters and for their knowledge of the game that that is the scenario that is developing.
It also says much about the character of Rice, who has given – and continues to give – his absolute all for a club where he has risen through the ranks. He is only 24 but Sunday was the sixth anniversary of his debut for West Ham.
Declan Rice is adored by West Ham fans who want their captain to remain for another season
There were signs and chants at West Ham’s final home game of the season on Sunday that begged Rice to stay at the club for one more season
Rice has become a fan favourite at West Ham and took time out at full-time on Sunday to pose with young supporters and sign autographs
The atmosphere around his possible departure makes a refreshing change from the rancour that often surrounds the protracted transfers of players who are in their prime and who want to move on to test themselves at a higher level.
Whoever we support, it is sometimes hard to accept that a higher level exists or, if it does exist, that playing at it could in any way supersede the importance of staying loyal to a club. Rice’s class, on and off the pitch, and his obvious connection to, and respect for, the West Ham fans, has rendered those kinds of objections mute. The fact that West Ham should collect a handsome fee for him helps, too.
How his transfer develops will be as keenly followed as whether Harry Kane leaves Tottenham Hotspur and the success of Rice’s move will have repercussions not only for his own career but for an England team that will be one of the favourites for the European Championships in Germany next year.
In many ways, Arsenal seems like the best fit for him. They are short in his position. Granit Xhaka is leaving and Thomas Partey’s limitations have been exposed in the closing weeks of the season. When Partey was asked to step up, he fell away dramatically.
Rice and Moises Caicedo, from Brighton, are being widely touted as the two signings at the top of Mikel Arteta’s summer wish-list. They are exactly what Arsenal need if they are to build on the dramatic advances they have made this season and launch another title challenge next season.
It is thought, too, that a move will help Rice fulfil his potential. He is under-rated at the moment, partly because he is an English player, and partly because he has spent much of his time at West Ham compensating for the shortcomings of others.
He has been a holding midfielder and a marauding box-to-box midfielder all at the same time. When he is surrounded by better players, he will blossom, just as he has done on the biggest stage with England.
Graeme Souness, one of the greatest of British midfielders, observed recently that Rice did not score enough goals and since that criticism, Rice has responded. He scored West Ham’s equaliser against Leeds.
Rice (right) could find himself playing under Mikel Arteta (left) at Arsenal next season
Rice’s last great act as skipper could be leading the club to a first European trophy since 1965
But Rice has so much talent that he can be anything he wants to be. If he ends up playing alongside Caicedo at Arsenal, maybe that will free him to be the swashbuckling Steven Gerrard model of midfield dynamo he aspires to be.
Equally, there are many astute judges of the game, including current high-profile managers, who feel that he could go on to become an elite centre half.
A player who is capable of emulating the style of an outstanding defender such as Matthias Sammer, who was so influential for Borussia Dortmund and Germany as a sweeper, stepping forward with authority and panache.
Instead of bitterness and controversy, there is excitement about what a move could do for Rice and for the England team. Before that, though, he will lead West Ham into the Europa Conference League Final against Fiorentina in Prague on June 7.
If his last act is lifting West Ham’s first European trophy since the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965 and treading in the footsteps of Bobby Moore, what a fitting end it would be to a beautiful friendship.
Firmino’s departure highlights his star quality
Roberto Firmino was my favourite component of the brilliant attacking trident he formed at Liverpool with Sadio Mane and Mo Salah. Maybe he was the least celebrated but he was always the most important.
Roberto Firmino was given a guard of honour by Liverpool players at his final Anfield appearance on Saturday
Firmino (red top) has brought balance to Liverpool’s attack over the years and the outporing of love for him is evidence his efforts haven’t gone unnoticed
He was the one who made the rest of the forward line make sense. He was the player who gave the whole team balance. The waning of his star has been one of the biggest reasons for Liverpool’s recent struggles.
The outpouring of love for him at the club as he prepares to leave is ample evidence that his contribution did not go unnoticed.
Jose’s changed tune on the Europa League
The hubris of Jose Mourinho is the gift that keeps on giving. Mourinho’s Roma have had an ordinary season in Serie A and are currently to be found battling it out with Atalanta for sixth place. There is no shame in that.
It is Mourinho’s level these days. The remaining adherents to the cult of his personality point to Roma’s victory in the Europa Conference League final last season and their progress to the Europa League final this season as evidence that his star remains undimmed.
Jose Mourinho has found his level at Roma this season and there is no shame in that
Mourinho has made it to the Europa League final this season, a tournament he previously said it would be a ‘disappointment’ to win
Once again, these are fine achievements, but they are also a reminder that he is not fighting for the biggest trophies any more.
‘I don’t want to win the Europa League,’ Mourinho said a decade ago, after his rival Rafa Benitez won it. ‘It would be a big disappointment for me.’ His words.
Vinicius Jnr abuse is becoming a familiar pattern in football
The treatment of Vinicius Junior by Valencia fans, Valencia players, La Liga and Spanish football in general would beggar belief if it had not become so normalised.
Soon after the Real Madrid forward was racially abused by supporters at the Mestalla on Sunday, he was attacked by the Valencia goalkeeper and, after the resulting melee, it was Vinicius who was sent off.
He was then upbraided by La Liga for provoking the confrontations and effectively told it was all his fault.
This is a familiar pattern in football, particularly in Spain, but not confined to Spain – when a person is racially abused and has the temerity to complain about it, the narrative frames them as the guilty person.
Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jnr (middle) was subjected to vile racist abuse at Valencia on Sunday
Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti (left) defended his player who was sent off late in the match
The dispiriting thing is that nothing changes.
Nearly 20 years ago, I remember being at the Bernabeu and watching most of the stadium abusing England’s black players in a match against Spain.
When I wrote about it, I was upbraided by a respected English journalist who lived and worked in Spain because he said I did not understand Spanish culture.
LaLiga president Javier Tebas (right) defended the league after criticism from Vinicius (left)
English football has its own continuing problems with racism – see the recent treatment of Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore – but I saw what happened to Vinicius Jr on Sunday and all the same problems seem to be there.
If Spanish football is still intent on mounting a defence for the treatment meted out to Vinicius, I still don’t understand.
McIlroy spreads happiness with his generosity
Rory McIlroy’s (left) embrace with Michael Block (right) at the USPGA at the weekend was a beautiful moment
Rory McIlroy has not won a Major for some time now but he has, nonetheless, developed a beautiful habit of decorating the biggest tournaments with moments that encapsulate the best of sport.
At The Masters last year, the mutual joy he and Collin Morikawa took in the way they both holed bunker shots one after the other at the 18th in their final round was my highlight of the tournament.
And at the USPGA at the weekend, McIlroy’s embrace of club pro Michael Block on the 18th after the golfing weekend of the older man’s life was another reminder of the happiness a man like him can bring to others with the generosity of his spirit.
I hope victory finds him again at the US Open next month.
