Rice: There’s interest, but I love playing for West Ham

West Ham United captain Declan Rice admitted he absolutely loves playing for the club, after leading them to Europa Conference League glory in Prague.

Jarrod Bowen’s last-minute goal sealed an historic 2-1 win over Fiorentina, ending a 43-year wait for a major trophy as Rice followed in the footsteps of previous skippers Billy Bonds and Bobby Moore by lifting silverware.

And after his playing his 245th match for the club, Rice revealed his deep-rooted feelings for the Hammers when quizzed about his own future.

“At the moment, there’s obviously a lot of speculation going on about my future,” he told BT Sport. 

“There is interest from other clubs, that’s out there, but ultimately I’ve still got two years left at West Ham.

“I love this club, I love playing for this club, there hasn’t been nothing yet so look, my focus is playing for West Ham, enjoying tonight and seeing what happens.

“I’m captain of this club, I absolutely love it to pieces, I can’t speak highly enough of this place and let’s just see what happens. Let’s wait and see, who knows.”

Bonds lifted two FA Cups, after Moore had hoisted the 1964 FA Cup and 1965 European Cup Winners’ Cup and Rice struggled to see himself being written into club folklore alongside two West Ham legends with a combined total of 1,446 appearances in claret and blue.

“To be even in that conversation is crazy,” he added. 

“I’ve given, the last six years, playing my heart out for this club. I will do absolutely anything to make this club win.

“We’ve not had it easy, we’ve been facing relegation two or three seasons, we had Europe two years and to win this now, it’s just another level.

“To be in that category, I don’t want to say too much, because I don’t want to get too excited.”

Rice also paid tribute to predeccesor Mark Noble, who retired at the end of the 2021-22 season after West Ham lost in the semi-finals of the Europa League, before becoming the club’s sporting director.

And he had special praise for manager David Moyes, who answered his critics with the team’s success.

“He [Noble] is a West Ham man, it means so much to him,” said Rice.

“He said he can’t even look at me, because he’ll end up crying.

“A big mention as well to the manager, there’s been times this year when he has been tested, there was a period when a lot of the fanbase wanted him out, obviously because the results weren’t going well.

“But you actually look at his time at this club, he come in, saved us, Pellegrini come in, then he come back and saved us, then he got us into Europe two years in a row and now we’ve won that. 

“I think he’s on there with West Ham’s probably best ever manager now. It has to be said. I think he got every call right.”