{"id":606063,"date":"2026-05-27T05:39:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T05:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/606063\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T05:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T05:39:14","slug":"declan-rice-drops-statement-just-days-before-champions-league-final-i-am-gutted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/606063\/","title":{"rendered":"Declan Rice drops statement just days before Champions League final – “I am gutted”"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a weekend of huge success for Declan Rice and Arsenal, but the same could not be said for the \u00a3104million midfielder’s former side West Ham United<\/p>\n

17:05, 26 May 2026Updated 18:06, 26 May 2026<\/p>\n

\"Declan<\/p>\n

Declan Rice was videoed looking devastated when West Ham’s relegation was confirmed(Image: X)<\/p>\n

Declan Rice admits he was left devastated when West Ham United<\/a> were relegated to the Championship. While the Arsenal<\/a> midfielder was celebrating winning the Premier League<\/a>, his former side’s campaign ended in the worst possible fashion.<\/p>\n

The Hammers beat Leeds United 3-0 but were relegated<\/a> as a result of Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 home victory over Everton.<\/a> There was footage of Rice’s disappointed reaction when the Irons’ relegation was confirmed.<\/p>\n

As his team-mates were enjoying the moment, Rice was spotted throwing his arms about in anger and shaking his head in disappointment. He has since taken to social media to make clear his sadness about the situation at the London Stadium.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

On Instagram, he wrote: “I\u2019m absolutely gutted to see West Ham relegated. A club that really does mean so much to me. As I said before, I wouldn\u2019t be where I am today without everything the club has done for me.<\/p>\n

“With that being said, I have no doubt they\u2019ll be back where they belong in the Premier League in no time. I will be supporting always.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rice made 245 appearances for West Ham, contributing 15 goals and 13 assists over the course of seven years in east London. When he left the club for \u00a3104m in 2023, he was briefly the Premier League’s record signing, until Chelsea surpassed it by signing Moises Caicedo.<\/p>\n

Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n

Seeing his former side be sent down to the Championship for the first time since 2011 evidently hurt the England international. However, he will need to move past the pain ahead of this Saturday’s Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n

Rice captained West Ham to the 2023 Europa Conference League title and he will need to be similarly influential if Mikel Arteta’s side are to beat the Champions League holders.<\/a><\/p>\n

Shortly after winning the Premier League, Rice said: “I think that’s the message from the manager already.<\/p>\n

\"Declan<\/p>\n

West Ham are never far from Rice’s thoughts(Image: Alex Pantling\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“We just need to enjoy today, but tomorrow it’s full focus on PSG. We’ve got a massive opportunity there. We want that, you know, we want the double, we want to push for that.”<\/p>\n

Arsenal have never won the Champions League and their only European honours are the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1970 and the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1994. In the same way Rice inspired West Ham to win the Conference League, he will be looking to play an equally pivotal role for Arsenal.<\/p>\n

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Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a weekend of huge success for Declan Rice and Arsenal, but the same could not be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[194896,12332,59,101,56,54,55,14999],"class_list":["post-606063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-arsenal-vs-psg","tag-declan-rice","tag-gb","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-west-ham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}