Three years ago Declan Rice was the star guest at a Soho House event about the power of effective leadership. Tickets were in hot demand and Rice, who was due to play a European semi-final for West Ham two days later, could not understand why so many people were interested in what he had to say.

The audience was packed with marketing directors and CEOs, all eager to hear the England midfielder speak. To Rice, though, it just seemed weird. Why him? What made him so special? The answer lay in his everyman appeal. It was because of his ability to form connections with everyone he comes across. It was because Rice, who goes into the World Cup fresh from winning the Premier League with Arsenal, would be a leader in any setting. More than anything, it was because England’s new vice-captain is authentic, genuine and always ready to charm, no matter if the 27-year-old is speaking to a room of high-powered executives or heading back to his old school to spend an afternoon with a group of awestruck kids.

Perhaps this world-class footballer’s superpower is to be both normal and extraordinary. “He’s hardly changed,” Stephen Willmore, Rice’s old PE teacher, says. The stories are positive no matter who tells them. An 11-year-old Rice was part of Chelsea’s academy when he started at Grey Court school in Ham, south-west London. There was no arrogance, though. Rice still captained the school football team. Harry Kane is not going anywhere any time soon but the expectation is that Rice will take over from England’s captain one day.

“He never missed a game for us,” Willmore says. “If we had to change the kick-off times he would always want to play for the school and then go to training with Chelsea afterwards. He was a leader already. Even though he was so young he was hugely respected for the fact that he always wanted to play for the school team.

“He didn’t hold back. He would play for us and go straight off to training, but he would give his all within that time with us. He was charismatic. He had a great personality. We’d go on away journeys in the minibus and he would be the central figure. He was just a really nice young man who’s carried on in that way. I still see that Declan you see now.”

Rice does not use a traditional agent. He leans heavily on his two older brothers, his father and a handful of close friends. Rice has never lost touch with his roots and is still in touch with his old schoolmates. He was a good student and loved his sport. He liked tennis and cross country running. On the football pitch, he was a driving force from midfield. He passed well and dominated. At Chelsea, though, standards were high. Rice, who comes from a family of Chelsea fans, faced dejection when released from his boyhood club at the age of 14.

“That shock of my dad telling me, I just burst into tears,” Rice said in 2019. He had to be resilient. Rice had an immediate offer to join West Ham. The east London club had tracked him since he was nine and could not believe their luck when Chelsea let the youngster go.

Academy staff had never seen a better trialist at West Ham. Rice had gone through a growth spurt and his physique needed attention, but offering him a deal was the right call. Staff trusted him. Rice was the type of person who would tell the coaches if another boy was struggling emotionally.

That speaks volumes for his character given that joining West Ham meant Rice had to cross London and leave the family home in Kingston. He comes from a tightknit family and had to get over his homesickness. “His mum and dad were always really supportive,” Willmore says. “He had really nice parents.”

The path was never straightforward. There were times when West Ham’s youth coaches were divided over whether to keep Rice. But his development continued, he was handed his first-team debut by Slaven Bilic in May 2017 and he caught the eye of senior players when he joined training.

Mark Noble, West Ham’s former captain, remembers Rice stepping out of defence to “hit a diagonal ball out to the left wing with a lovely bit of fade on it”. Noble suspected Rice would take his place in midfield one day. Rice was a teenager but his attitude set him apart.

“We played Rubin Kazan in pre-season,” Aaron Cresswell, the former West Ham left-back, says of a July 2016 friendly. “Dec gives the ball away and the lad went on and scored. But his reaction just told me what he was like. It wasn’t like his head was down and he didn’t want the ball. It was: ‘Fine, give me the ball, I’m going to show you what I’ve got.’ I thought: ‘Gosh, he’s going to be some player.’”

Cresswell talks fondly of a “cocky little kid” who could hold his own in the first-team dressing room. “He could speak to anyone. And when the going gets tough, he’s first to put his chest out and carry the team. In the latter part of his West Ham career he certainly pulled us through games, whether it was making that last-ditch tackle or dragging a team up the pitch.”

Leadership came naturally to Rice. He was not afraid to lay into older players. He even spoke his mind to West Ham’s then manager, David Moyes. “If he felt something needed to be said, he’d say it,” Cresswell says. “He was brilliant in and around the place. Everyone loved him.”

A key part of Rice’s character is his ability to stay professional while not taking life too seriously. There is a story about him winding up Joe Hart when the former England goalkeeper was on loan at West Ham during the 2017-18 season.

“He did a shooting session with Joe,” Cresswell says. “Dec put it in the top corner. Joe came out and he tried to chip him. Dec said: ‘You won’t get that, son’ and Joe lost his head. He wanted to kill him. He chased him all around the training ground. I think he actually filled him in when he got hold of him. But Dec’s heart was in the right place. It was never crossing that line into arrogance. You need that little bit of character.”

Rice soon moved out of central defence and into midfield. He was always destined for the top but his focus never dipped when he was about to leave West Ham. He drove them to the Conference League title in June 2023 and soon became the most expensive British player ever, joining Arsenal for £105m.

Bayern Munich and the Manchester clubs were interested but Mikel Arteta wooed Rice with his footballing vision. Arteta said Rice could be Arsenal’s lighthouse – someone to guide and improve those around him. At Arsenal, though, Rice has become more than a facilitator. He was more defensive at West Ham but has become a No 8 under Arteta. With England he has more freedom thanks to the emergence of the metronomic Elliot Anderson. Rice’s increased attacking threat was evident when he made a box-crashing run during England’s 3-0 win in their friendly against Costa Rica on Wednesday, arriving late to open the scoring by converting a low cross from Anthony Gordon.

“I don’t think a lot of people appreciate actually the ability he’s got with the ball,” Cresswell says. “You’re seeing it a lot more at Arsenal side. No disrespect to the West Ham team we had, but his game was kind of different. I remember getting slated a bit for this. I remember saying: ‘If he’s around better players he’ll naturally become a better player.’ He’s one of the best in the world in that position.”

Cresswell talks about Rice’s set-piece deliveries, which were crucial to Arsenal winning the league, and his two spectacular free-kicks against Real Madrid in the 2024-25 Champions League quarter-finals. “That was the first time he’d scored a free-kick in his career,” Cresswell says. “I was thinking: impossible. I watched him take free-kicks all the time at West Ham. His ball strike … I was astonished.”

The Madrid game felt like Rice announcing himself as a global superstar. He has 10 commercial partners and works with one charity. The interest in him is vast and varied. Rice has his serious face on when he works with fashion and beauty brands such as Burberry and L’Oréal; he can let loose when he did the “Rice, Rice baby” advert for Müller Rice.

He can lift the mood by playing the joker and maintain standards by behaving as the consummate professional. He has an eclectic music taste and a deal with JBL headphones. He listens to Gunna and Lil Baby but also likes house music and Harry Styles. Golf is another passion. When Arsenal won the league, Rice was out celebrating until the early hours. There were clips on social media of him taking selfies with supporters on the street. Then, after a few hours’ sleep, it was off to play golf. “It’s how he relaxes,” a friend says. He plays off a handicap of six.

The day job is demanding, after all. Rice has had near misses with England, losing the Euro 2020 and 2024 finals. He was involved in two of Arsenal’s three consecutive second-place finishes before they finally finished first. There were times when Rice wondered whether the big prizes would come. Friends told him it was better to be slow and steady; that consistency was always the aim and the wait would be worth it.

Perhaps that was why the cameras caught Rice saying: “It’s not done” when Arsenal lost to Manchester City in the league in April. His faith in Arteta and his teammates would be vindicated. “He sometimes doesn’t need to have the armband,” Arteta said. “When he talks people listen.”

Cresswell laughs at people on social media who reckon that Rice turns it on for the cameras. “I was at the Arsenal game a couple of weeks ago at West Ham and he’s still the same kid now,” he says. “I’ve got a little eight-year-old boy. Dec came in, gave him a shirt and signed it for him and took pictures with him. He’s never forgotten West Ham or the lads who’ve helped him develop. He’s got all the time in the world for everyone.”

These days Rice has flowing locks and does lifestyle interviews about his hair care routine. Cresswell laughs when he thinks back to Rice’s teenage look. “He had a skinhead,” he says. “He looked like a little scally. But we’ve all been a little bit wet behind the ears. He’s a fully grown man now.”

Rice, who is in line to win his 74th cap when England face Croatia in Group L on Wednesday, is a family man and a father. The boyish, playful streak persists, though. England have been gearing up for the World Cup by training in stifling conditions in Florida and Rice has laughed at pictures of his bright red face, saying he got a telling off from his mum for not using suncream.

It is a disarming way for one of England’s most important players to talk. Rice, who switched allegiance from the Republic of Ireland in 2019, can do self-deprecating. He has that rare combination of being able to clown around without making his managers doubt his dedication.

It is not a surprise that Thomas Tuchel has entrusted Rice with the responsibility of being Kane’s deputy. England will rely heavily on Rice’s drive and leadership this summer. The aim, as the head coach keeps saying, is to put a second star on the shirt. There will be plenty more talks on leadership if Rice gets his hands on the World Cup.