Rice and England team-mate Mason Mount (right) are close friends from their early days at ChelseaEuro 2020 on the BBC Dates: Friday, 11 June-Sunday, 11 July. By the time he enrolled at Grey Court School in Ham, London, as an 11-year-old, Rice was already an academy player for Chelsea, the club he grew up supporting. Wigmore remembers having to substitute Rice 10 minutes into a local derby against Orleans Park School because he'd scored four goals. Martin Taylor, a former scouting co-ordinator at Chelsea, saw great potential in Rice at that stage, too. Even after his sustained first-team breakthrough in the 2017-18 season, Rice refused to settle into a comfort zone.

Source: BBC June 05, 2021 05:37 UTC