Declan Rice has Lionel Messi moment as he wakes up with West Ham trophy
Hammers talisman emulates the Argentine great’s World Cup celebration as he revels in Europa Conference League glory
eclan Rice emulated Lionel Messi by waking up alongside the trophy following West Ham’s dramatic Europa Conference League triumph last night.
The England midfielder took to Instagram on Thursday morning to post a picture of himself sitting up in bed and sporting his winners’ medal as he planted a hearty smacker on the newly-won silverware in a Prague hotel room.
The image brought back memories of Messi taking the World Cup trophy to bed with him after he finally claimed football’s greatest prize with Argentina in Qatar in December, posing for pictures in the morning that quickly went viral.
“Good morning,” Rice posted alongside the image that has already attracted more than 63,000 likes at the time of writing.
Wednesday’s pulsating triumph over Serie A side Fiorentina at the Fortuna Arena was a perfect farewell to West Ham for Rice.
The Hammers captain has been strongly linked with a move away from east London this summer after several years of speculation and non-stop transfer rumours.
Arsenal are leading the race to sign Rice as they prepare a club-record bid, with Bayern Munich also interested in his services along with Manchester United.
Addressing that speculation after the final whistle in Prague, the 24-year-old said: “There’s a lot of speculation going on about my future
“Obviously 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 anything yet. My focus is playing for West Ham, enjoying tonight and seeing what happens. I’m captain of this club and absolutely love it to pieces.
“I cannot speak highly enough of this place, let’s just see what happens.”
However, West Ham chairman David Sullivan later confirmed that Rice had played his last game for the club.
“We promised him he could go,” Sullivan told talkSPORT on Thursday morning. “He set his heart on going.
“You can’t ask for a man who has committed more to us this season. In due course, he has to get on and we have to get a replacement - or several replacements.
“It’s not something we want to happen. We offered him £200,000 a week 18 months ago [and] he turned it down. It’s cost him £10million to stay at West Ham in that time (in lost wages).
“He wants to go. You can’t keep a player who doesn’t want to be there.”