Declan Rice: Transfer rumours, Mason Mount and overcoming growth spurts

Declan Rice's journey from being released by Chelsea as a teenager to becoming a key player for West Ham and England on the European stage is now well established, as are the seemingly constant rumours that the 23-year-old's remarkable rise is set to earn him a move to one of the continent's biggest clubs.

Rice's status as one of the country's standout midfielders was established by his performances during England's run to the Euro 2020 final last summer, when he started all seven of his country's games, and has been enhanced by his displays for West Ham during another impressive season in east London.

But as well as tasting disappointment during his time at Chelsea, Rice admits his Hammers career was also nearly cut short before it had begun thanks to factors that were beyond his control.

Speaking exclusively to Sky Sports ahead of West Ham's Premier League game at home to Arsenal on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, Rice said: "I was really small when I was a kid. Not too small, but smaller than most.

"Then when I joined West Ham, when they were thinking about getting rid of me, I was in the middle of a growth spurt. I could play, but I just looked so gangly and unorthodox - it didn't look right.

"I knew if they gave me the time, I had the ability and I could still play. It was just my running technique - I looked long in the legs and everything was off.

"Nobes [Mark Noble] tells a funny story where he came to watch me once with the U23s and he thought, 'who is that?'. I could run, but I couldn't, it just looked so off.

"You know yourself though when you're going through things like that. It just doesn't feel right in your running patterns."

It's a tale that will be familiar to a huge number of people with experience of the