I love playing for West Ham, says captain Rice

Declan Rice says he loves playing for West Ham – amid speculation he could have played his last game for the club after helping them end a 43-year wait for a major trophy.

The 24-year-old England midfielder has been heavily linked with a move away from London Stadium.

“At the moment there’s a lot of speculation going on about my future,” Rice told BT Sport after lifting his first major trophy.

“There is interest from other clubs but ultimately I still have two years left at West Ham.

“I love this club and I love playing for this club.”

Rice added: “My focus is playing for West Ham at the moment. I’m captain of this club and I can’t speak highly enough of this place. Let’s just see what happens. Let’s wait and see. Who knows?”

Before their Europa Conference League semi-final second-leg win at AZ Alkmaar, West Ham manager David Moyes said there was “a good chance” Rice will leave during the close season.

Rice has rejected all efforts to get him to sign a contract extension amid interest from virtually all of England’s top clubs.

The midfielder’s contract is set to expire in 2024, although the Hammers have an option to extend that by a further year.

“If this is to be Rice’s last ever game for West Ham, what a way to go, what a way to bow out,” former West Ham midfielder Don Hutchison told BT Sport.

‘I’d give anything to help this club win’

On Wednesday, Rice became the first West Ham captain to win a European trophy since England’s Bobby Moore lifted the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965.

In lifting silverware, he has also emulated club great Billy Bonds, who led the Hammers to the FA Cup in 1975 and 1980.

“To be even in that conversation [alongside Moore and Bonds] is crazy,” added Rice.

“I’ve given my heart playing for this club over the past six years. I’d give anything to help this club win. We’ve not had it easy. We’ve been facing relegation.

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

Rice came through the youth system at West Ham and has been capped 41 times by England, playing in all five of their matches at the World Cup last November and December.

He has made 62 appearances for club and country this season, scoring six times.

“This is what it’s all about, winning a European trophy,” former West Ham defender Scott Minto told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“You can talk about Rice, his last game we think, he’s going to be lifting that trophy and he joins the long list of legends.”

Bowen ‘someone who just keeps going’

West Ham’s winner came in the 90th minute, when Jarrod Bowen beat the offside trap and squeezed the ball past goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano and into the net.

“I obviously dreamed of scoring but to score the winner in the last minute, it’s what you always say you want to do,” Bowen told BT Sport after full-time.

“To do it in front of these fans, I thought I was going to cry, I’m just so happy.

“I think in my position, you make that run 10 times and you might get that ball once. There was time for one more chance. I’m over the moon.”

Bowen’s football journey to a European final started in the fifth tier of English football.

After unsuccessful trials at a number of English clubs, he began his career in the National League with Hereford before moving to Hull in 2016 and eventually getting his Premier League chance with West Ham in January 2020.

The winger, who has been capped four times by England, has scored 13 goals in 54 appearances for the Hammers this season.

“He was turned down by Aston Villa and Cardiff – you are looking at someone who just kept going,” former West Ham goalkeeper Rob Green told BBC Radio 5 Live. “You go through those moments of being rejected.

“His run for the goal tonight was just about keep going. He must have made that run 1,000 times in his career – it is a fantastic moment for him.”