Former Chelsea assistant manager, Jody Morris has claimed that Declan Rice was open to returning to Chelsea before he ended up joining Arsenal.

Rice, who grew up a Chelsea fan, and started off his career with the club’s academy, moved to Arsenal for a deal around £100m last summer. However, prior to the transfer, the midfielder was reported to be of some interest to Chelsea for many seasons.

Morris has now revealed that both he and former Chelsea boss, Frank Lampard actually made a case for the England international to be brought to Stamford Bridge, but instead, the club didn’t prioritise his signing.

He told No Tippy Tappy Football, brought to you by William Hill: “I was always on Frank Lampard’s case saying how unbelievable Rice would be for us when N’Golo Kante kept getting injured.

“And he wasn’t sure at first, but a month later he was all over him!

“I messaged Declan Rice when I was at Chelsea, and I asked him whether he’d come back, even after being released by the club.

“He said, ‘I’m a Chelsea fan, of course I would!’

“And from then on Lampard was speaking to him and the upstairs members at the club were talking to his parents.”

He continued: “In the end, it got put on the back burner in favour of a couple of other signings.

“It didn’t end up going through, but at the time they were quoting around £60-65 million so that would’ve been a steal for someone who could have easily been at the club for 10 years.”