‘I’m ex-Chelsea coach – Declan Rice instructed me he needed Stamford Bridge return’
Declan Rice was pushing for a return to Chelsea previous to his £105million Arsenal transfer, in response to a former Blues coach.
Rice was closely linked with a return to Stamford Bridge through the latter levels of his West Ham tenure, and will’ve joined Chelsea for as little as £60million a number of years again. The 25-year-old spent seven years within the Blues’ youth academy, however didn’t earn knowledgeable contract on the membership, not like bezzie mate Mason Mount.
Frank Lampard insists he urged the membership to re-sign Rice throughout his preliminary spell as supervisor, and Lampard’s assistant, former Chelsea star Jody Morris, claims to have spoken to Rice on the telephone throughout that point, and was instructed the midfielder was eager on the transfer.
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Speaking to William Hill and Footy Accumulators’ on the No Tippy Tappy Football, Morris revealed: “I messaged Declan Rice when I was at Chelsea, and I asked him whether he’d come back, even after being released by the club. He was a centre-half back then and there were a lot of people who said he shouldn’t have been released when he was, but in hindsight it was probably the best thing for him considering all the amazing things he went on do at West Ham.
“I used to be all the time on Frank Lampard’s case saying how unbelievable Rice could be for us when N’Golo Kante stored getting injured and he wasn’t certain at first, however a month later he was throughout him! So, we reached out to Declan on whether or not he’d need to come again and he stated, ‘I’m a Chelsea fan, after all I might!'”
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After being satisfied of Rice’s skills, Lampard tried to influence the board to lure him again to the membership. Morris claims Chelsea have been near sealing a £60m deal, and {that a} appeal offensive had been carried out with Rice’s mother and father to easy issues over. But the deal ended up falling by way of when Chelsea determined to prioritise different targets.
“It didn’t end up going through, but at the time they were quoting around £60-65m so that would’ve been a steal for someone who could have easily been at the club for 10 years,” Morris stated.
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Lampard, who additionally claimed he pushed to carry a younger Jude Bellingham to the membership across the identical time, obtained the sack a number of months later, and a transfer for Rice was shelved. In 2023, Chelsea’s curiosity within the participant was briefly reignited, however they ended up prioritising a deal for Moises Caicedo as an alternative, with Rice subsequently shifting to Arsenal.
Morris was Lampard’s right-hand man for 3 years, initially becoming a member of the Chelsea legend at Derby in 2018 earlier than following him to Stamford Bridge a yr later. He left Chelsea when Lampard was sacked in 2021, however did not hyperlink up together with his former team-mate when Lampard was appointed Everton supervisor in 2022, nor when he returned to Chelsea as interim boss final season.
(Image: Richard Calver/SOPA Images/LightRocket through Getty Images)
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The 45-year-old determined as an alternative to deal with launching his personal managerial profession and he landed the Swindon job in January 2023. However, he was sacked simply earlier than the tip of the season after profitable simply 4 of his 18 video games in cost.
As a participant, Morris spent seven years at Chelsea, having emerged from their youth academy in 1996, however left firstly of the Roman Abramovich period in 2003, after having spent two seasons at Lampard’s team-mate. He later performed for Leeds, Rotherham, Millwall, St Johnstone and Bristol City earlier than hanging up his boots in 2013.
