Does Declan Rice know he is England’s vice-captain? Arsenal midfielder handed important Harry Kane support role despite lack of ‘official’ talks with Thomas Tuchel

Tuchel has taken the decision to appoint Rice as his vice-captain for the upcoming World Cup, placing the Arsenal star in a vital leadership role behind skipper Harry Kane. Rice arrived at England’s West Palm Beach base in Florida on Saturday evening, joined by Arsenal team-mates Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke, and Eberechi Eze, just as the rest of the squad secured a 1-0 friendly win over New Zealand in Tampa.

The midfielder’s elevation to the role comes following a season where he played a pivotal part in Arsenal’s Premier League title triumph. Despite the heavy workload of a campaign that saw the Gunners reach the Champions League final, Tuchel views Rice’s personality and experience as essential for the national team’s success this summer. Speaking after the New Zealand victory, Tuchel was clear about his hierarchy, stating: "I think I would say Declan is my vice-captain."

While Tuchel was happy to confirm the news to the media, there appears to be some uncertainty regarding whether Rice himself has been sat down for an official briefing on the matter. When asked if the former West Ham man was aware of his status as second-in-command, the German coach admitted things have been somewhat informal up to this point. Rice previously wore the armband during an October friendly against Wales when Kane was unavailable.

“That is a good question,” Tuchel said with a smile. “I was just thinking about it. Whether it is an official thing or not. But I think we had this talk when Harry was not in camp with us. We started with Ollie (Watkins) and I think Declan was captain. That was where I told him.”

Rice and his fellow Arsenal stars began training with the main group on Sunday, but Tuchel is remaining cautious regarding their involvement in the next warm-up fixture. England face Costa Rica in Orlando on Wednesday, and while the manager plans to ramp up the intensity, he has not yet decided if the late arrivals will start the match.

“I am not sure about that. Let’s see how they come back,” Tuchel explained when quizzed on the quartet's availability. “They come back (Saturday), three training days and let’s see. We will get bigger chunks of minutes because it is part of the build-up and then after that we will have six days or something for Croatia. We need some players to play 60 or 70 minutes.”

To ensure the entire squad is match-fit, England have organized an additional behind-closed-doors fixture against Miami FC following the Costa Rica game. This will allow Tuchel to balance the minutes of players who may only feature briefly in Orlando, ensuring the squad is fully prepared for their Group L opener against Croatia on June 17.

“We have one more match behind closed doors to manage all the minutes because of course, let’s say if someone plays 70 minutes against Costa Rica and someone else only plays 20, that is also not enough so there will be players who only had 20 or 30 minutes and will play the next day again,” Tuchel added. After facing Croatia in Kansas City, England will move on to group stage fixtures against Ghana and Panama.