Born in Kingston Upon Thames on January 14th, 1999, Declan Rice upset the football odds by becoming a Premier League star despite being released by Chelsea, aged 14.

Soon after, West Ham’s academy took a chance on the rangy midfielder, with Rice earning the role of club captain and earning a spot in the England squad. However, he earned a mega money move to Arsenal in the summer of 2023 - with the Gunners forking out an estimated £105 million to sign him.

Rice, now one of the highest earning players at the Emirates Stadium, has been a revelation since arriving at the club and he has been key to Arsenal's title challenge. How highly is he hated and can he lead the Gunners to Premier League glory? Only time will tell.

How Much Is Declan Rice Worth? 

Presently, Rice earns an estimated £250,000 a week at Arsenal and that figure would make him one of the highest paid players in the Premier League.

Going off his current salary, that equates to £12.4m a year, while it has been estimated elsewhere that his net worth is a staggering £26 million. This figure is only an estimate though, with no exact knowledge of his wage and earnings from endorsement deals.

That figure incidentally, does not include hefty bonuses for goals scored and relegations avoided.

With Arsenal bang in contention to challenge for the title, Rice could be in for a nice bonus come the end of the campaign if the Gunners clinch the Premier League crown.

In addition to his earning power on the pitch, Rice has agreed to several lucrative commercial tie-ins with companies keen to be associated with a player whose popularity extends beyond Arsenal's fan-base.

He has an exclusive deal with Adidas, promoting them via his Instagram channel, and has previously appeared in advertisements for Sports Direct. 

Having invested wisely in property – including a sprawling pad in Chigwell, Essex that he shares with his long-term partner Lauren – Rice comfortably has a fortune in excess of £10m.  

Declan Rice West Ham Move

Growing up a Chelsea fan, Rice looked up to the Stamford Bridge superstars of that era, including Juan Sebastian Veron and his childhood hero Frank Lampard.

A decade on however, one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the country positively bleeds claret and blue. Or at least he did prior to joining Arsenal in 2023.

Having forged a close relationship with the Hammers fan-base, Rice was the obvious choice to inherit the captain’s armband from club legend Mark Noble and his influential and committed performances were admired by one and all at the London Stadium.

Twice he was voted West Ham’s Young Player of the Year. Twice he has won their Player of the Year. 

Prior to his move to Arsenal, Rice insisted he was happy to remain a Hammer, putting in weekly displays that has led to his manager describing him as a ‘great ambassador’ and ‘leader’. 

Declan Rice England

After controversially switching his allegiance from the Republic of Ireland to England early in his career, Rice has subsequently become a pivotal part of Gareth Southgate’s national set-up, his manager’s first-choice even amidst some stiff competition. 

Making his England bow in March 2019, Rice has seamlessly transferred his bossing of centre-circles at club level to the international stage and his form and fitness is key should the Three Lions have any hope of lifting the World Cup aloft at Qatar 2022.

Declan Rice Girlfriend

Declan Rice has dated childhood sweetheart Lauren Fryer for eight years, with the couple beginning their relationship in 2016 after meeting at school.

The couple are in a happy relationship and share 20-month-old son Jude, but Fryer and Rice have both received disgusting abuse online over her appearance.

This has resulted in Lauren Fryer deleting all images from her Instagram page, with cyberbullying first starting in December 2023 - less than six months after Rice joined Arsenal.

With comments stating that Rice 'could do better' and 'he has low standards', it's hardly a shock that Fryer has opted to remove her social media posts.

Lauren has 64,000 followers on Instagram but has kept her profile public rather than switching to a private account, and she has received support from several celebrities - including Love Island and reality TV star Liberty Poole.

Here's to hoping that the trolls leave Fryer alone in the coming months and the two can enjoy raising Jude in a loving, committed relationship.

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*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*

This Euro 2024 Group C match between Serbia and England will take place on Sunday 16th June 2024 at 8pm (BST).

The game will take place at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, the home of FC Schalke 04 which has a capacity of 50,000. This stadium notably hosted the 2004 Champions League final and the 2006 World Cup quarter-final.

Match Preview & Prediction

The group will get underway a couple of hours before this game as Slovenia take on Denmark in the earlier kick-off. 

Serbia enter this Euro 2024 competition for the first time since 2000 (As Serbia & Montenegro), this is the first European tournament that Serbia have qualified for as an independent nation.

The Eagles will be looking to get out of this group with the players they have, group winners might be a tough ask but I think Dragan Stojkovic’s side can definitely fight for that second place, Denmark should be the team up there with them.  

England head to the Euro 2024 Championships in Germany after an unbeaten campaign in the group stage, the Three Lions shared a group with Italy, Ukraine, North Macedonia and Malta, despite being favourites to qualify, doing so without losing a game is always a good confidence boost when heading into a major tournament. 

Gareth Southgate’s side were losing finalists at Wembley three years ago (delayed Euro 2020 tournament), beaten on home soil to Italy on penalties, it was a frustrating end given many England fans thought this should have been their time, so close to a trophy for the first time since their 1966 World Cup win, will this England team finally give their supporters some glory?

The Three Lions head to Germany as one of the favourites to win the lot, I’m expecting them to get out of this group without any problems, leaving the remaining three to battle it out for the second automatic place into the round of 16.

Therefore, I think we’ll see England get a victory here but given it’s the first game for both sides, it’ll not be straight forward and England will be hoping they can control the game from the start and get themselves into a good position heading into their second game against Denmark just four days later.

Serbia vs England History

This is the first time these two nations have met at senior level, England did face Serbia and Montenegro in Leicester in a friendly back in 2003, but they’ve never met whilst Serbia have been an independent nation.

The English came out victorious with a 2-1 win in a game which England boss Gareth Southgate participated in. 

England v Serbia Betting Odds

The sports betting odds have England as the favourites to get their campaign off with a victory, at the time of writing, England are currently 1/2 to take all three points.

Serbia will be looking to cause a couple of upsets along the way in this competition, they are currently 5/1 to get their campaign off to a winning start.

Click here to find the latest odds for this fixture!

Serbia Squad Euro 2024

Goalkeepers

Vanja Milinkovic-Savic (Torino), Dorde Petrovic (Chelsea) and Predrag Rajkovic (Mallorca).

Defenders

Nikola Milenkovic (Fiorentina), Strahinja Pavlovic (Red Bull Salzburg), Filip Mladenovic (Panathinaikos), Srdan Babic (Spartak Moscow), Milos Velijkovic (Werder Bremen), Uros Spajic (Red Star Belgrade) and Nemanja Stojic (TSC).

Midfielders

Nemanja Gudelj (Sevilla), Dusan Tadic (Fenerbahce), Filip Kostic (Juventus), Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Al-Hilal), Nemanja Maksimovic (Getafe), Sasa Lukic (Fulham), Andrija Zivkovic (PAOK), Mijat Gacinovic (AEK Athens), Ivan Ilic (Torino), Srdan Mijailovic (Red Star Belgrade), Lazar Samardzic (Udinese) and Veljko Birmancevic (Sparta Prague).

Forwards

Aleksandar Mitrovic (Al-Hilal), Luka Jovic (AC Milan), Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus) and Peter Ratkov (Red Bull Salzburg).

England Squad Euro 2024

Goalkeepers

Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal), Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace) and James Trafford (Burnley).

Defenders

John Stones (Manchester City), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle United), Lewis Dunk (Brighton), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Jarrel Quansah (Liverpool) and Jarrad Braithwaite (Everton).

Midfielders

Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Connor Gallagher (Chelsea), James Maddison (Tottenham), Curtis Jones (Liverpool), Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace), Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace) and Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid).

Forwards

Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich) Jack Grealish (Manchester City), Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), Ivan Toney (Brentford) and Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa).

England and Serbia Euro 2024 Predictions

Here are my Euro 2024 predictions for these two nations.

Serbia – I think Serbia will qualify from this group, I have them to finish second and if that’s the case, they will likely come up against Germany in the Round of 16.

It’s a game which might be a step too far in this campaign but they’ll definitely give a good account of themselves. Round of 16 for Stojkovic’s side.

England – They should top this group, they’ll then play the third-placed team from either Group D, E or F, in which they should be victorious.

We could see a repeat of the Euro 2020 final in the quarter-finals and it’s likely England could meet France in the semi-finals, the winner of that will win the competition in my opinion.

In terms of the Euro 2024 odds, the Three Lions are currently 11/8 to reach the final.

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*Credit for the main photo belongs to Alamy*