Declan Rice says he’s “so excited” to get the chance to work with Mikel Arteta and hopes his arrival, combined with other recent squad additions, can help Arsenal win trophies in the coming years.
After protracted negotiations with West Ham and a lot of paperwork, the England international completed his £105 million move to Arsenal yesterday evening. In the process, he became the Gunners’ record signing, eclipsing the £72 million spent on Nicolas Pepe, and the most expensive English player of all time.
Having spent a decade at West Ham climbing through the ranks to become only the third captain in their history to lift a major trophy, the decision to leave East London was not taken lightly. The player released an emotional farewell statement this morning before meeting his new teammates at London Colney.
In his first interview with the club, he said: “I’ve been looking at Arsenal over the last couple of seasons and the trajectory they’ve been going on. Not last season but the season before, they finished fifth but you could see the style of play Mikel was implementing. Last season was an outstanding season, blowing pretty much every team out of the water with the exception of Man City.
“With Mikel and how he works, the squad, how young everyone is, the energy around the club and also the challenge of getting Arsenal back to where they belong, that means a lot to me. I know the fans really want that. For me as a player, I’ve come here really hungry to have more success and to spend my best years at this great club.
On working with Arteta, who is understood to have been instrumental in persuading the midfielder to pick Arsenal over other interested clubs including Bayern Munich and Manchester City, Rice added:
“I’m so excited – he speaks for himself. You see how he works – you got a real insight into how he works on the Amazon documentary, how he works with his players and not only as a coach, but psychologically how good he is with players, how he improves players. He’s a massive factor in the reason why I’ve come here.
“I know he’s going to get the best out of me. I know I’ve got more levels to go up in my game, and I feel like he’s the manager to take me to those next levels. I’m really excited to be working with him.
“It’s an absolute privilege to be a part of Arsenal Football Club. The history and the players that have played here speak for themselves. And now I have joined, we’ve got some other signings as well, we are looking to get Arsenal back to the big time, back to winning stuff.
“You’ve seen over the past few years how well this squad has been with the manager and there is a real feelgood factor around the place. So I’m hungry, I’m ready and I’m going to give everything for this club like I do week in, week out. We’re going to be on some journey, so I’m looking forward to it.”
In Rice we Trust
I saw recently thar Arsenal had the second most valuable squad in the World, just behind City. Will this deal mean we have the most valuable squad?
Including Rice
Without a top top top striker, it is difficult to say we have the second best most valuable squad. CF is a decisive position. When we were winning the league and once reached CL final, we had Henry. We do have two top playmakers in Ode and Jesus.
We’ve only had 8 players since the prem began that have registered 10 goals and 10 assists in a single season (bergkamp, Henry x2, rvp, cesc, santi, walcott, Sanchez, Saka) – I reckon we’ll have at least 4 players who achieve this next season – so the top top striker thing is not entirely necessary if the burden is being shared
This is exactly right.
I notice a number of fans complaining that we MUST sign a 25 goal a season striker (inc. the moron piers morgan).
Do people still not realise that defending was the issue last season?
We scored the most goals we’ve EVER scored in a PL season – we don’t need a world class striker.
FFS dude. Just be thankful tonight that we got this fucking deal over the line – because it was FAR from a forgone conclusion.
Value is not always the same as cost my friend. Then again we have the reverse cost/value ratio with Saka.
Depends on the money laundering angle happening at the Etihad
So you think the American capitalists are saints?
That’s not the same argument….
in this instance one group of owners is playing by the rules (that they all agreed to) and one is not.
and no, no one should be a billionaire.
“rules”
Do you think our owners are laundering money, because that’s essentially what the Premier League thinks City are doing. Which is a breach of the rules every Premier League club agreed to.
More than happy to criticise capitalism but something tells me you’re more interested in drawing false equivalences than holding any billionaire to account.
I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it
Josh is excited that you are excited.
Welcome onboard Declan
Quality footballer
This is a level-raiser signing. Not only because of the quality the player possesses, but because of what this signifies to those within and outside the club! This literally screams “WE ARE NO LONGER MESSING AROUND!”
Super excited to see the season start now.
We said that when 85M was spent on Pepe after Laca and Auba 50M each. But at the time we had no Saka, no Martinelli and Ozil wasn’t performing any close to Ode then the fuĺlbacks and the bench who are so much better today.
Who spent 85m on Pepe?
Euros
A genuine marqee signing, up there with Bergkamp. Let’s hope it marks a similar new phase.
Easy there mate. Don’t compare with the God
Not as a player, but as a moment we’ll look back on as an important.
…important step.
Can’t say I’m happy for us to spend 105 million on a player, has nothing to do with the player but that’s just an insane sum of money. He also has a slight case of Gareth Bale-face and Gareth Bale-ears which is unfortunate, but unlike Bale I do like how he talks, what he says and how he plays, so irrespective of the sum this seems like a great acquisition. Welcome to the Arsenal Declan 💜🦾
Why does the end of your comment completely negate the start… And, the middle… you what!?!…
The fee obviously sounds like a huge amount (and it is), but look at it another way – if he have him doing the business for us for the next 10 years then it is £10m a season. We won’t have to spend any money on strengthening that position during that time either. According to the Telegraph Man City made £294m in prize money last season alone. Now do the maths
That’s a big “if”, him playing for us for 10 years. And so many things could go less than ideally in that time. If it does go as well as you say, or even slightly less than that, then yes, this will have been worth it. And regardless that’s just how the market is these days, so I have to accept it. But it doesn’t mean I have to like it, or think it’s in any way sane.
Again, nothing to do with the player, just from a purely philosophical/socioeconomic/moral view on the subject.
It is indeed a big “if”, and I totally get how absurd these figures are given the current situation for most people in the country… But from a pure footballing point of view I am quite confident that this will prove to be a rock solid investment – as his statistics and personal profile are everything that we need to go to the next level (and in theory with our age profile we should be looking at a sustained period of income as opposed to outgoings after the initial spend that we’re seeing)
I agree! From a pure footballing view I really like this signing, which I did express in my original comment 🙂 and now I’ve read Phil Costa’s new player piece I’m even more excited, seems like he’s basically Thomas Partey, only if Thomas was also a genius interceptor of the ball, a better long range passer and almost never got injured. And also 6 years younger and a great character/leader. So I’m fully in on the player.
It’s the interceptions / turnovers combined with ball carrying that should elevate us – it’s a proper moneyball signing albeit we’ve had to pay a pretty penny – but it’s probably the most crucial position on the pitch with our setup of two attacking 8s in a midfield 3
Based on games played that is between 200K and 225K in transfer fees then plus 250K in salary for the week. That is 500K each time you see him in a game.
I have no idea about his salary but 250K is a minimum no?
The salary aspect is an interesting one – last season we had a relatively low salary bill (I saw a stat that the top 5 United wages was more than our entire squad combined), however with recent new contracts and signings I’d expect our wage bill to increase massively this season… The evolving FFP rules require that outgoings are sustainable to revenue – and this has just been altered again to stop Chelsea getting around it by offering 8 year deals (capped at 5 years but can still be amortised with renewals). There are far smarter people than me running… Read more »
Yes it would work out at something like that – pretty insane eh?! But I guess you could then counter with other equations – like we sell him in 4 years for £100m, and in that time we banked £500m in prize money and £500m in commercial revenue as a result of on field success… It’s not easy to predict – but I would expect our owners are looking at this investment as something they will increase the asset value to provide them with greater return in the long term – so whilst the outlay is eye watering the return… Read more »
What is the point you are trying to make?
294!!!
I know – I had to have my eyebrows surgically lowered after reading that figure
I use VVD as the measure of value for this transfer as I feel Dec will have a simillar effect on our team. Liverpool paid 75mil 8 years ago. Dec is future England captain material and former PL captain. I for one am so exited to see Dec take us back to the big time. WELCOME TO THE ARSENAL DEC! COYG!!!!!!!
I get your point but VVD moved to Liverpool in Jan 2018 so it was mote like 5.5 years ago
Not saying that time won’t prove you’re right but let’s just enjoy the transfer announcement and discuss the money matters after.
Fair point, sorry to spoil the mood. If I could delete the comment I might have, alas my not purely positive reaction is doomed to be forever enshrined on these pages…
He looks like Bale and John Terry is his absolute idol but we love him.
Oh dear is he?? I didn’t know about that last part, that is highly alarming 😬
Moan moan moan moan moan.
IT’S NOT YOUR MONEY
😂
Wonderful. Welcome Declan.
He speaks so well. Impressive 1st interview
Agreed, I thought due to the period waiting for him to sign I would not feel much, but just hearing him speak has got me super excited
Exactly! The same way I got super excited hearing Mikel Arteta speak in his first interview. You just know Declan Rice is the kind of person to GIVE HIS FUGGING ALL! And heaven knows we need players like that!
Mikel is working some magic with this club. Welcome, Declan! I can’t wait for the season to start.
World most expensive Rice
Now we need to sign naan and Curry.
Curry (Hull City), midfielder
Nan (Sichuan Jiuniu), striker
Just what we need.
Oh boy, I’m so excited for this transfer.!! Amazing work by all the recruiting team and a massive welcome to you Declan ❤️
Odegaard now has competition for being arteta’s favorite!
Well, that signing came out of nowhere!
(Welcome Declan!)
Top 5 most exciting signings ever…??
(As in, this makes it into mine)
I recall my top 3 most exciting signings.. It was February 1995 and I arrived home from school after a long days slog. First thing I did was switch on the TV and type page 300 into teletext to get the football news. After 10 mins of loading the headline showed “Arsenal make triple signing”. I let my imagination run wild for the next 10 minutes of loading time. It turned out to be Glenn Helder, Chris Kiwomaya and John Hartson – but those ten minutes of anticipation were the most exciting 3 signings I’ve experienced to date
Ozil, Sol, Sanchez, even Partey was a massive signing at the time…doubt Declan makes the top 5 most exciting for fans
Signings that got me the most excited, before they played their first minutes :
1) Mesut Özil
2) Tomas Rosicky (I remember watching him play at the world cup right after the signing was made official).
3) Oxlade Chamberlain (I had Bukayo Saka level of expectation for him).
4) Samir Nasri (I’m french and this guy was such a great youngster
5) Granit Xhaka (I thought he was going to bring exactly what we need to win)
(My subjective personal top 10 levels of excitement)
Tony Woodcack
Bergkamp
Aubameyang
Kenny Sansom
Andre Arshavin
Charlie Nicholas
Declan Rice
Kanu
Ozil
Stephen Lichtsteiner (I know!)
Sanchez was the most exciting signing for me. Because at that time we had all the creativity in the world with ozil, Cazorla, Rosicky, Wilshire, Ramsey etc but lacked a finisher.
That’s actually a pretty interesting topic! Players I was most excited about when they signed:
1)Ozil
2)Bergkamp
3) Auba
4)Sol
5)Rosicky
Bergkamp should probably be first but Ozil was such an un-Arsene style signing and was such a fantastic player. Shame it didn’t quite work out how we wanted.
1. Ian Wright
2. Dennis Bergkamp
3. Theo Walcott (So much potential at the time)
4. Ozil
5. Declan Rice
I’m clearly older than you lot but supermac was a pretty exciting time. £333.333.00 me thinks a record at the time
Watched his first interviewed. The recurrent words “push”, “demand” and “hungry” speak volume of his work ethics and humility. I’m so proud we got Declan!!
It’s pretty telling that he referred to the “psychology” of the club in his interview. This aspect is underrated. I think we’ve only got a few players left that MA inherited – and when you look at the squad now, they’re invariably players who have the right attitude. Like any workplace, it only takes one bad apple to ruin the bunch – and in team sport this is amplified… We now have a young team who consider one another to be family – and the best and brightest want to be part of this and they court us now
Top quality. Uncle Benz. Great to have you in the best run club on earth.
Trophies are guaranteed.
When we first got linked to him, way back in January, I said “no way”. Because I knew it would take an obscene amount of money to prise him out of West Ham’s hands… but to see all the months of rumor finally culminate in him being here is incredible. Big well done to the Kroenkes for backing the manager. Here’s hoping we have a tremendous season and do a treble or even the quadruple 😀
Warms your fucking heart this does
Long time coming, still a buzz. Timber too, Havertz, Smith Rowe LANS… looking forward to the new season!
I am praying that his teammates will assist him to shine. He must shine! Else it will be nonsensical to spend this huge sum of money to purchase just one player. May God protect Rice.
Arteta started cooking few years ago. The food was almost ready but not quite due because some ingredients were missing. Then Arteta decided to buy an expensive Rice and big Timber to prepare delicious meals of Titles and domination for Arsenal fans. COYG, say it loud in Manchester, Liverpool, London, and the whole of Europe, We’re back in Special way!
I remember Arteta responding to criticism over how little time Martinelli was getting by saying “You have to cook him slowly”.
The fact we ended up beating Man City to him does make it sweeter. You might even look at it as (wait for it) a Declanation of war.
Interesting thing to have Rice in our squad. We are challenging for bigger things.
Hope he doesn’t turn out the way Maguire did
or Pepe
Don’t worry. I’m sure that the whole “player turns out to be a golem and then the mage controlling him suffers a debilitating stroke” thing was very much a one-off.
Rice and shine son! This is a statement of intent, as much as getting a quality player on board. Can’t wait for this team to get on to the pitch! COYG!
My wife and I were thinking about naming our baby Declan (if it’s a boy—waiting to find out), but now I don’t want my own child to be my second favorite Declan… back to the drawing board for boy’s names I guess.
It’s not worth the risk. I named my cat Pepe and it can sense my disappointment every time it creeps through the cat flap
Harsh
Just a quick poll…where can Rice’s quality be best utilized for Arsenal…THUMBS UP for 6, THUMBS DOWN for 8
What about a 3rd opinion like haven’t the foggiest.
I do honestly think that in this current setup, we would be a lot more stable with Rice in the left 8 and Partey or preferably Jorginho (simply for his distribution).
I think that Rice with his passing, shooting and ball carrying runs would add a significant amount to this team from the 8 and we can maintain the solidity we showed last season.
There’s one Arteta and you’re not him. I’m comfortable with whatever the manager wants to do, he has earned that trust.
3-2-4-1
White Saliba Gabriel
Partey – Rice
Saka – MO – ESR/Havertz – Martinelli
Jesus
One of the biggest signings since the Edu & Arteta midfield duo in 2019!! Welcome to the gooner family Declan and Timber! Exciting times! Also I understand this may be a divisive opinion but looking at how red nose left ManUre, Wenger didn’t leave us in such a bad shape, LeProf deserves some credit for this trajectory, he laid the foundations to achieve the status we are riding on today, people can talk about Pep, but Managers like Wenger are absolute legends of the game, even more so.
Good to see it’s all finally done. Maybe some fans will have a little faith now instead of losing their shit when another team steps in to a deal. This was quite strange in the way all the minute details spilled out from West Ham. Pretty disrespectful really. Then the constant nonsense reports just added to it. This transfer kind of shows that maybe Mudryk could’ve put his foot down a little more about signing for us but that is what it is. If we retain Partey I think this could potentially be the end of our dealings other than… Read more »
The situation about Mudryk clearly went beyond just football. Hints were there as in him quoting “Country comes first…” etc. That situation was a full on game of illicit means and corruption
Pretty sure the club will move Partey if given the right valuation. His 65% availability is shit, he’s been sloppy in possession and he’s almost 30. If we are going to recoup any of that €50m, this is the year to do it. I think the club will continue to try and move him and bring in a young midfielder for the future, a squad signing like Lavia or that profile.
I hope so.
Welcome to The Arsenal, 🍚 🍚 Baby! Disappointed the club didn’t use that music in his announcement video, probably due to copyright issues. What an
exciting new season it’s going to be!
After a long time I feel we have a complete squad. Almost every position is sorted now (with genuine quality backups).
I hope Partey & Tierney also stay and this will be the best window ever!
What a signing! What a statement to the rest of Europe! Start the season already!
Curry Night Chez Qwaliteee…!! 😉👍
something big is cooking!
even though rice is the star signing, timber is the one who i’m more looking forward to see grow in the team!
Wait, did the Amazon show actually help us get a major signing??
Looks like it did!
I think now the only missing piece is the striker. My only choice is to bring in Kane. We all know from where he will come but the amount of goals he will bring with the help of other Arsenal player those would be exceptional. They way United got EPL by getting RvP, we will be getting something with him. I know difficult but maybe 80-90 will do the magic for us…
It would be good but Kane has to look for his safety as well. The switch has a very dangerous potential. Kane hates Gunners anyway
Would rather poke my eyes out than watch the diving, cheating, trying to break someone’s neck cunt in an Arsenal shirt. How long have you had intrusive thoughts?
No, just no. Not even for a fiver. Divey cheaty, mouth breathing loser. Yuk.
Not in a million years. He’s the wrong side of 30 and would want 400K per week and a five year deal, which would cripple us. Plus he’s detestable.
When his head hits the pilau tonight, Dec will dream of hitting the training ground at a raita knots. City will look like poppa dum dums… erm…
Trying to curry favour for likes, are you?
I’m just madras about Arsenal
…when he onion bhajis Walker or samosa defender out of the way for Saka to score 👍
Best transfer window ever!!!
We’ve signed Rice
We’ve signed Timbbbeeerrrrrrr
We’ve signed Havertz
We’re f*kn here
A transfer window to remember
Champions of England is coming next
May not be finished yet
I can’t wait to see Ramsdale Holding Saka White Rice
I can’t take credit for that quote, just thought i’d share it with you all 😀
Rice is worth the price 🙃
But was your rhyme worth the time?
I was Thrice
I was just wondering . Odegaard , Party and Rice are our 3 best midfielders in the club . Why can’t all three play together . Rice / Partey in 8/6 as both can break the lines and carry the ball the best in the league . This frees up Ode a lot too . It also frees up zincheko and white . A lot of our late season goals came through defensive mistakes at lb . Doesn’t this fix it up ?
Patience, we will see what Arteta is cooking when he puts the rice on the table. I’m sure we will see various systems including Rice and Partey, if Partey is still around. Don’t forget, Partey has only had a 65% availability rate and is almost 30. Best move would be to recoup some funds before he is valueless but I wouldn’t be fussed to get another year out of him if it meant winning a title.
All i can say is what it felt like a long time anouncing this. Welcome to Arsenal, Declan.
Hope Rice has been brought to replace xhaka and not partey.. i would be totally heartbroken if Partey leave.. he is a joy to watch.. Havertz should play in place of Jesus, Jesus has been bang average in that striker role. False nine will definitely suit Havertz.
With Rice on the plate, I’m hopeful we’ll be sitting on top of the table come next May.