Copyright bbc
Kelly: You said you started as as a forward - who was your idol? Reece: My idol was [Didier] Drogba. I was a Chelsea fan growing up and he was the player I looked up to. Kelly: Can you think of a turning point in your career - a moment that has shaped you and the player you have become? Reece: I would probably say going on loan. Bridging the gap between academy and first-team football is the hardest and that is probably what most players making the jump find challenging. Kelly: You're talking about Wigan, of course. Why was Wigan the right club for you at the time? It was miles away from everything you knew in London - why did it work so well? Reece: The first thing is that I played week in week out, which helps. I gained a lot of experiences - I moved away from my friends and family and had to grow up fast. Playing on a consistent basis helped a lot. Kelly: Who has had the biggest impact on your career? Reece: I would say [Brazil defender] Thiago Silva. He is nearly old enough to be my dad and has played at the highest level for so long. He always tried to help me from the minute he arrived and still does, even now he is not here [having left Chelsea in 2024]. Kelly: In what way would he help you? Reece: It was little messages off the pitch. On the pitch, he would sometimes see things that I saw differently and try and paint a different picture. Kelly: It must have been nice to see him this summer [at the Club World Cup]? Reece: It was great to see him again. I'm happy that his team did well in the tournament [they lost in the semi-finals to eventual winners Chelsea]. It is always good to see him. Kelly: If you could go back and replay one match in your career, which would you pick? Reece: If the outcome is going to be the same - it would be the Champions League [final]. Kelly: Other than winning, what was so special about that night? Reece: Not many people expected us to win. [Manchester] City were favourites. The way the game went, 1-0 in the final - they had chances but they didn't take them. It is the biggest trophy in club football. Kelly: It was a similar situation with the Club World Cup with lots of people talking about PSG and the way you won that... Reece: It was another final where we were underdogs but we all believed and knew we were good enough to come out on top. I think we showed that in the game and with the result. Kelly: What was a typical day for you and your siblings growing up? Reece: We would wake up and go to school. The minute we got home from school, it was kicking a ball around on the street until one of us had to go to training. Whoever was training, the other one would be kicking a ball around on the side watching. It was like that for pretty much all of my childhood, always with a ball at my feet. Kelly: What was it like growing up with your sister Lauren? It must have been so evident from a young age how good she was... Reece: When she was young, I didn't understand how good she was because I didn't see that many girls playing. She always played with me and boys and she was better than most of them. She has come on leaps and bounds in her career and is doing amazing things. Kelly: I read she was training with the Arsenal women's team and was then moved to the Arsenal boys' academy. She talked about the fact that she didn't think about being any different as a girl, she was a footballer. That must have been something that playing with you and your brother must have really helped her with... Reece: Yeah she was always playing with the both of us and that probably helped her with her technical ability and physicality. Kelly: What's your relationship like with her now? Reece: It's good. We live a similar life - we're playing football at the highest level. Sometimes our schedules are not aligned so we miss each other's games, but we are close. Kelly: Do you speak a lot and see each other a lot? Reece: I'm always travelling, she's always travelling. We speak a lot.
