Declan Rice (born 14 January 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Premier League club Arsenal and the England national team.

[3][4][5][6][7] Rice began his professional career at West Ham United, having been released by Chelsea's academy, and established himself as a key first-team player by 2017.

[17] On 16 December 2015, two years after joining West Ham United at youth level, Rice signed his first professional contract with the club.

[18] Rice received his first call-up to the West Ham senior squad for the games against Sunderland and Everton in April 2017, after impressing in the under-23 team.

[33] On 15 February 2021, Rice scored his first goal of the season when he converted a penalty and put the team in the lead against Sheffield United in a home league win that ended 3–0.

[34] In April 2021, having played in all of West Ham's games so far in the 2020–21 season, Rice was ruled out for four weeks with a knee injury picked up on international duty with England.

[39] On 16 October 2022, Rice opened his goalscoring account for the season, scoring a curling effort from 22 yards (20 m) to secure West Ham a point in a 1–1 draw against Southampton.

[40] On 20 April 2023, Rice scored West Ham's third in a 4–1 win in the UEFA Europa Conference League against Belgian side Gent, carrying the ball for more than 50 metres (55 yd) before finishing past Gent goalkeeper Davy Roef, resulting in a goal labelled "perhaps the standout strike of Rice's career" by The Daily Telegraph.

[49] It was reported that the transfer fee was a club-record initial £100m, potentially rising by £5m, in add-ons, making him the most expensive English player, equalling the previous record held by Jack Grealish.

[52] On 12 August, Rice started in Arsenal's opening match of the 2023–24 Premier League season, a 2–1 home win over Nottingham Forest.

[53][54] On 3 September, he scored his first goal for Arsenal, in stoppage time to grant his team a 2–1 lead against Manchester United in a match which ended in a 3–1 win.

[55] Rice was announced as a nominee for The Best FIFA Men's Player based on his performances for both London clubs and the national team.

[59] On 23 May 2017, only days after his Premier League debut, Rice was named in the Republic of Ireland squad to play friendlies against Mexico and Uruguay and a World Cup qualifier at home to Austria.

[62] By November 2018, having been omitted from three squads selected by O'Neill, Rice said he was no closer in deciding whether to play for Ireland or England.

[69] On 25 March 2019, England manager Gareth Southgate handed Rice his first start for the national side during a 5–1 victory over Montenegro.

[79] Ahead of his 50th cap for the senior side, it was announced that Rice would captain England for the first time, against Belgium in March 2024.

In more recent times, he has begun to build a reputation as a more complete midfielder due to his ball carrying skills and ability to score goals from range, which has seen him be deployed in a more offensive role on occasion as a number eight.