Frank Lampard wanted to sign Declan Rice as ‘Chelsea captain for 10 years’

Declan Rice is on his way to Arsenal, but could have been captaining Chelsea if Frank Lampard had his way.

Rice is set to move to the Emirates from West Ham for £105million, having helped the Hammers win the Europa Conference League in the season just gone.

The midfielder began his footballing career in the Chelsea academy and remains good friends with Mason Mount, who switched Stamford Bridge for Manchester United this summer.

Rice is also set to transfer sides during the ongoing transfer window. Though if Lampard, who has had two shortlived spells as Chelsea manager, had his way, Rice would be turning out in blue next season rather than Arsenal's red and white.

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Discussing Chelsea's recruitment on the Diary of a CEO podcast, ex-West Ham midfielder Lampard said: "There are phases. I left, Chelsea won the Champions League three or four months after I left.

"At that point, you go where's the next move, how was the recruitment then, how did things work then. Maybe some players left during that period, maybe in terms of recruitment you wanted to bring in some that could be the future.

"When I was at Chelsea before, I wanted to bring in Declan Rice. I thought this kid is going to be the captain of Chelsea for the next 10 years. It didn't happen, but anyway. It's hard for me to dissect other people's work in between."

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Chelsea released Rice from their academy for three reasons, according to The Athletic, including his lack of physicality.

Though Maurizio Sarri reportedly wanted to bring the versatile midfielder back to Stamford Bridge in 2019, saying at the time: "I think that he’s a very good player, very good in the defensive phase because he’s really very able to recover the ball.

"He usually plays very close to the defensive line and, in the first match against West Ham, he was really a very big problem for us.

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"I think he is improving in the offensive phase. He has improved during the season because I saw their last matches and I saw a very good midfielder."

Sarri wasn't wrong and Rice is now set to be able to showcase his talents in the Champions League with Arsenal – something he wouldn't be doing if he were at Chelsea in the coming season.

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