Declan Rice reveals who were his favorite Galacticos of the early 2000’s

The 23-year-old English captain of West Ham, Declan Rice, appears to be a big fan of Real Madrid. In an interview with GOAL, as part of their new video series, ‘Box to Box’, the central midfielder revealed his admiration for Real Madrid and especially his compatriot, David Beckham.

GOAL

“This [Beckham, 23] was my favorite shirt as a kid, I remember going on holiday with my brothers and my family and non-stop wearing this shirt. It’s iconic, with Becks on the back. Probably my favorite kit of all time.”

“So many good players, obviously Becks was the icon, to have this shirt and to have his name on the back was a dream as a kid.”

Interviewer: Was he the best player in the Real Madrid team?

“I wouldn’t say he was the best player in that team, obviously I’m going to have to go with R9 [Ronaldo]. I was only young then, so for me just looking at these players, you’d see them on YouTube, you’d see the clips they do, the key moments they have in games. He was a massive part of that, some of the assists he got for those players was top. So, yeah, I’d put Becks up there but R9 was my favorite,” Rice revealed.

Declan Rice is reportedly valued in excess of €80 million by West Ham and still has 2 years remaining on his current deal, with an option to extend for a third year. Defensacentral have linked the midfielder to Real Madrid as a plan B, if they fail to sign Jude Bellingham next summer. Given his admiration for the club and awe of the early Galacticos era, interest from the club would likely be welcomed by the young Englishmen. Declan may have only been 4 or 5-years-old when Beckham first moved to Madrid, but the club and the player clearly left an imprint.