Declan Rice: The future leader that West Ham need now more than ever

As West Ham come into the busy stretch of the season, the Hammers need a new leader more now than ever. Declan Rice might be just that guy even though he is still just a kid.

Let it be known the Mr. West Ham, Mark Noble, is still alive and well when it comes to the core leadership in East London. However, Declan Rice is slowly stepping up from the shadows and when it counts the most and it was ever more prevalent this weekend at Chelsea.

Everything surrounding West Ham was facing in the downward direction and things weren’t looking good for either of the staff or the players. After a disappointing run over the past 8 weeks and heads seemingly down, nobody expected to see what happened last Saturday.

The big news was that Pellegrini changed things up, he subbed well, and the Hammers won. There, in the background growing, leading, and cheering everyone on was Declan Rice. For starters, he put in a solid shift. He made 3 huge, game-changing tackles, passed well about 80%, and showed some attack as he beat players off the dribble 3 times.

Besides a few matches last season where he scored, this was arguably his best performance yet as a Hammer. Putting all of that aside, and you will find an even bigger story. His leadership abilities that are always on show were even more as he backed his team 100% during the goal, afterward embracing with David Martin, and later during the post-match interview.

When you see him and Mark Noble together on the pitch you can tell that they are the same and Nobes has done an excellent job grooming him. Declan’s passion after Aaron Cresswell’s goal was like a weight lifted not only for him but for the entire West Ham community.

From that goal to the embrace with the keeper after the match looked like a senior leader was celebrating with a new boy who just got his feet wet. That is what the moment was but in actuality, the roles were reversed.

And finally, in the post-match presser, Rice stated the following:

"“You know what? Nobes got us together before the game and, with a couple of swear words in there, told us we had to be up for the game today.” It’s a London derby, we hadn’t won in 8 and if we’d lost we would have been bang in trouble and we knew it.”"

He finished the presser with a statement that will probably ironically mark him for years to come:

"“I wanted to jump in the crowd with them! I get so happy! My emotions just come out of me! Those fans are the best in the world for me.”"

From his remarks, you can tell that Nobes commands the team but Deccers isn’t far behind. His love, passion, and excitement for West Ham and its main contributor, the fans, it top-notch and with hope, will be for years to come.

This match had a lot riding not only on the club and the staff but Rice alone. He was facing his best friend, in a much win match against a side that is currently rising the table and with all that, he not only put on his best shift but brought a lot of the team with him and grew his legacy a little bit more.

He isn’t the future leader that West Ham ever thought they would get but he’s the one that’s here and the one that the Hammers arguably deserve.