It was only recently that Declan Rice discovered that he was almost let go by West Ham United. The story of how, when Rice was 14, Chelsea allowed one of the most talented and exciting young players in the Premier League to slip through the net is well-known. But what is not known is that it almost happened again two years later.

Rice takes up the story. The story of how fine the margins can be in football, the sliding doors moments that can make or break a career but also the kind of iron will and determination – the ability, as he puts it to “block things out” – it takes to prevent that from happening.

“I’ve heard some things now that I am in the first team,” Rice says. “I’ve heard from a few coaches that I was actually going to be let go.” He senses my incredulity, adding: “Yeah, some coaches were fighting for me to stay, saying ‘he needs to be given a chance, he’s going through a massive growth spurt, he’s got the ability’. But other coaches were saying ‘no, but he can’t move, we don’t know whether he’s going to grow into it’. When you get to 16 you either sign a scholarship or you sign as a pro. I was the last (player) to find out that I was going to be offered a scholarship.”