West Ham fans booing Declan Rice after he continues to be nothing but respectful towards the club is baffling.

Every single West Ham fan would have much preferred Declan Rice to sign for someone like Manchester City over Arsenal. Not only are they one of our London rivals, but they also have one of the most irritating fan bases on the planet.

However, the way he acted when leaving the club and since joining the Gunners has been nothing but classy. Not only did he refuse to celebrate his goal last season, and has stated he will never do so against the Irons, but he has also been open about how much he still loves the club.

Despite being an Arsenal player, he has confessed that he still has a special connection to the East London faithful, and if it wouldn’t get him in a lot of trouble he’d probably be happy to admit that he is now a West Ham fan.

On one hand it is understandable that some fans would be angry at the club he chose to join, it makes complete sense as to why he did so. At Arsenal he is one of the stars, where if he joined City he’d just be one of many. If he had disrespected the club in any way then it would be somewhat justified, but he’s handled the situation extremely well.

Although this is purely being said instinctively with no evidence to back this up, I can’t help but feel like we’ve not seen the last of the midfielder in claret and blue. Something tells me that when he’s finished his quest to win trophies (something he’s not doing very well at in fairness) he will return to the club that made him what he is today. If that does happen, it’s hard to imagine any of those jeering him giving him any stick.