Rice made his debut for the Hammers in 2017 before joining the Gunners in 2023 for a club-record £100m, making him the most expensive English player.
Collins, who played alongside Rice at West Ham, saw his potential and knew that the midfielder would go on to success.
Speaking to BOYLE Sports Collins said: “I wouldn't disagree with Declan Rice being called the best midfielder in the world - I know him and we all saw the potential in him - and he looks ‘head and shoulders’ above others in Champions League games”
“I was lucky enough, and still am lucky enough, to know Dec. He's such a great player and a man, for starters. Everyone who speaks to him agrees he's a great lad, truly.”
“He has a really good family around him, is very down-to-earth, and is still learning, if you like. I think we all forget how early on he is in his career, he's still quite a young man. But I think if you ask anyone at West Ham, certainly if Mark Noble was sitting next to me now having this conversation, we all saw it. We saw it in him.”
“You could see the player he was going to be. It's just great to see him go on. And I think you look at every game, certainly in Champions League games, he seems head and shoulders above everyone he plays against and comes up against.”
Collins also believes that West Ham can finish the season well and even qualify for Europe. The Hammers have had a difficult start and recently made a change of management.
Collins said: “Two games ago, it wasn't looking great. Speaking to a lot of West Ham fans, they couldn't really see where a win was coming from, nor a clean sheet. To be fair to Nuno Espirito Santo, the last two games have been much better and a lot more solid. We don't look like conceding as we did in recent months.”
“The start of the season was a bit of a disaster on the pitch, no doubt about it. Any West Ham fan or anyone at the club would say the same. But the next two games are massive.”
“Two wins in the last two games is huge when you are down there. You can really kick on. If they can stay around, like I said, get away from relegation and move towards mid-table, who knows, they could even go on a bit of a run and look at those later European spots. These two wins in the last two games have been huge, giving everyone a bit of hope.”
Collins played for West Ham over two separate spells between 2005-2009 and 2012-2018. He was part of the squad that narrowly lost to Liverpool in the F.A Cup final in 2006.