When Declan Rice scored against Newcastle United, the first thing he did was put his finger to his lips to shush the Toon army. His rather stiff attempt at the ‘Gun Lean’ followed, which got plenty of laughs and attention. Though the moments between him nodding the ball into the net and busting out his dance moves are what formed the genesis of this article.
There is no notable rivalry between West Ham United and Newcastle. It’s also not as if they are directly battling each other in the table this season. The reason Rice felt compelled to do this was Sean Longstaff, or rather, the hype that was surrounding the midfielder and the comparisons between the two players. They’re young, English, talented and play in the same position; therefore, we must distinguish who is better and we need to do it right away.
Having done well in previous loan spells, Longstaff had played in an FA Cup tie against Blackburn Rovers, impressing so much that he just never left the starting line up. He played 10 games in the lead up to that match at the London Stadium. In that time, he scored in the replay against Blackburn, got his first Premier League goal and was nominated for the Player of the Month award. That’s pretty impressive for 10 games in holding midfield, though it is still only 10 games.
Rice had been a mainstay in the West Ham team since early in the season. He’d been linked with future moves to the likes of Manchester City before signing his new contract with the Hammers; there had also been a tug of war between England and Republic of Ireland regarding who he would represent on the international stage.