What Declan Rice really thinks about Chelsea ahead of reunion with Arsenal

Declan Rice was released by the Blues as a 14-year-old and will return to Stamford Bridge with Arsenal on Sunday

Things could’ve easily been different for Declan Rice.

The Arsenal midfielder makes the trip to Chelsea on Sunday in the form of his life. He’s arguably the best player in the Premier League at the moment, he starred for the Gunners in the Champions League win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday and he is a linchpin for the England national team.

Having won silverware with his former club West Ham United too, Rice is unlikely to have any regrets over his career path so far.

But a return to Chelsea will always stir up emotions for the 26-year-old. Because he was once a Blue himself.

Rice spent seven years in the youth setup at Stamford Bridge after joining the academy as a seven-year-old. When he was released, West Ham quickly snapped him up.

Speaking to Gary Neville three years ago on The Overlap, Rice was still not sure why Chelsea made the decision to let him go.

“That was a tough one...like I said at Chelsea as a kid, it was all I ever knew so I thought where am I going to go, what am I going to do from here?,” he said.

"To this day, I still honestly don't know the exact reason [why they let me go], I wish I did. I think it was probably down to the fact that as a kid, I was tiny, I was going through a massive growth spurt at the time.

“My body wasn't all connected together, my running pattern was really weird. My technical ability was fine, in terms of the physical aspect of it, the running, I was struggling, I couldn't keep up with other kids.

“I think maybe in the end maybe that was the thing they thought I couldn't probably grow out of.”

Although Rice was able to secure trials at Fulham and West Ham quickly after being let go by Chelsea, he also revealed how difficult it was for him to move on.

"[It was] something I didn’t expect at all, it was all I ever knew as a kid, it was my whole life, going there, training, the mates I met,” he said. “I felt like that was it, I was gutted, I remember my dad coming home and telling me that was it.

“That night I got released, I went and trained with Fulham on Wednesday and then on Thursday I was with West Ham. My dad drove me to Chadwell Heath and I was gutted but I needed to kick on and push again.”

“You know how do you tell your friends that you’ve been released by Chelsea?”

The decision is one Chelsea will no doubt regret, as Rice as ascended into a world-class midfielder in years since.

The Blues do have some high-class midfielders of their own though and it’ll be intriguing to see how they fare against Rice and Martin Zubimendi on Sunday. Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez have both been among the standout players in the top flight this season.