By Daniel Feliciano

22nd May, 2023 | 4:13pm

Exit speculation grows after Declan Rice does solo lap of honour at London Stadium after West Ham United win v Leeds United

Declan Rice appeared to say goodbye to West Ham United fans after the 3-1 win over Leeds after doing a solo lap of honour after the game.

The skipper scored the Hammers’ first goal of the game to equalise before goals from Jarrod Bowen and Manuel Lanzini sealed all three points in the final home game of the campaign.

Rice is expected to leave the club this summer with Arsenal among the frontrunners for his signature, and the player seemed to say his goodbyes at the London Stadium after the game on Sunday (21 May) by doing an extra lap of honour on his own.

“West Ham captain Declan Rice smirking during the game as we sung ‘ten more years, ten more years Declan Rice’,” wrote 6foot2 on their official Twitter account (21 May).

“The 24-year-old also did a second solo lap of honour after the game which looked like a [wave] goodbye.”

Crying

We’re not crying, you’re crying.

Saying goodbye to Rice is going to be an incredibly difficult thing to do at the end of the season, but doing it after he lifts a European cup will surely soften the blow a little bit.

Rice is quite comfortably one of the best players we’ve had in our modern history and has done everything he possibly can for this club whenever he’s pulled the shirt on.

But we understand why he wants to move on and nobody will begrudge him that, because we simply can’t forget how important he is and how hard it is going to be to replace him in the team.

He will forever know that he is loved and wanted here, and obviously in an ideal world one day he’ll come back towards the end of his career after winning the lot and retire as a Hammer.

Rice’s goodbyes won’t be forgotten or in vein, but we still have a job to do this season that will make this a happy summer for everyone.