“I was fairly calm,” he says about how he was feeling before he picked up the phone. “Either way, I was praying for what I wanted to happen, which was me playing higher-level football, and in the Champions League. Of course, I wanted Arsenal more than anything, and it was a cool conversation. He gave me the clarity that I needed, and thank God it worked out this way.”
Highlights over the past year include the Premier League win, and being called up to play for his country for this year’s World Cup, obviously. He mentions “becoming an uncle” as one, too. Another accolade to add to his list? Boss Eyewear campaign star.
“I'm fairly cool, fairly calm in front of the camera,” he says about stepping into the role of a model. “As long as I look good!” he adds, laughing. “Because it's my face innit!”
When it comes to working with Boss Eyewear, it feels full circle. “Hugo Boss has always been a thing growing up, especially the eyewear. It wasn't in my bracket to be wearing them, so now to be able to put them on, and to work with them, that's kind of everything.”
He counts David Beckham as a footballer who influenced his style growing up. “I can’t speak to what he was thinking, but he looked like a guy who was doing what he wanted to do, and dressed like that. At least to me,” he says. On the team “Ricky Califiori is a proper fashionable guy”. But there’s one guy he credits with developing his own sense of style.
“I'm heavily influenced by my little brother, and he's inspired me to look for pieces I like as opposed to what I think people would like me to be wearing” he says. “I’m letting go of the perception of what people think and really thinking about whether I actually like this, and is this authentic and natural for me? Or am I going for it because other people wear it. I feel like that’s something he’s sort of given me, and it's a powerful tool to have. When you’re authentic, you’re more yourself.”
Helps that family aren’t afraid to hold back when it comes to wearing something that doesn’t fit right? “Correct!” he says smiling.
I bring up an Instagram post captioned: ‘Why do I need 40 pairs of jeans if I’ve only got one pair of legs? Word to @declanrice.’ His infectious laugh echoes in the room. Is this hinting to a shopping addiction that needs some control over?
“You don’t want to know how many takes that got in the group chat!” he says. “So, Declan \[Rice\] said that to me on a plane journey home after a game. We were talking about life, talking about everything. We were talking about excess things that we have when we don’t need them, and how we can overcomplicate everything around us. He said it to me and it just stuck. For a long time, I kept thinking: why do I have so many jeans?” He says, laughing. Fashion and life advice in one.