Declan Rice, worth every penny
When Arsenal signed Declan Rice from West Ham United in the summer, for a club-record £105 million pounds, fans were understandably concerned about the price of the transfer, but after just five games in an Arsenal shirt, he looks to be worth every penny.
Rice, whose transfer took longer than Arsenal fans expected, was the star signing of our summer. After an impressive season with West Ham, where he took them all the way to the final of the Conference league and on to win it, Rice looked to be the hot commodity for a lot of sides, but Arsenal and Arteta’s plan’s won over the talented midfielder’s signature.
With such a huge price tag, there was always going to be added pressure and eyes on him, with rival fans waiting for him to make a mistake and pounce. But so far, Rice has been excellent, showcasing to the world exactly why his price tag was so big and showing Arsenal fans just how lucky we were to pick up such a talented player.
Playing in the centre of the pitch, he doesn’t really get the credit he deserves, but he does a lot more than people see or give him credit for. His work off the ball is almost as good as his work on the ball, it’s like he already knows where the ball is going next, intercepting passes and reading the game perfectly. Constantly calling for the ball from his teammates, looking strong, composed and a lot of the time is the start of a press forward.
Working well with Martin Odegaard beside him, they both look to be able to read each other’s game, constantly moving and stretching the play. Transforming Arsenal’s midfield and making it almost impossible for opposition to go through the centre of the pitch.
After playing only five games, he looks like he’s been at Arsenal forever. Fitting into Arteta system perfectly and bringing the best out of the players around him. The price tag may have been hefty but in my opinion, Declan Rice is already worth every penny we spent on him.
What’s your thoughts Gooners? How impressed have you been with Rice so far?
Daisy Mae
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BALLER of note, I for one was highly sceptical of us paying so much for him wondering what the DECLAN RICE hype was all about but I must say, I’m now a MASSIVE fan! What strikes me the most apart from the obvious ball winning abilities nd his knack of somehow where the balls gonna end up going, he’s sheer strength on the balls 10/10 almost making him press-proof.
DAVID RAYA too gets a 10/10 for the superb performance he put on nd his wonderful “on a 10pence” precision passing.
Can’t wait for the game tomorrow, we back in the big times baby…
C O Y G
So you admit you were massively wrong then!
Some of us knew he was worth every penny. We only had to look at his stellar career so far and his excellent character too. MA saw that clearly, as did a number, though far from all, of our fans.
😇Jon, I sometimes cringe at your, seemingly, forgetfulness.
We were all lectured, not so long ago, about how the footballing world was going to implode on itself because of the money being spent and the coronavirus episode was to be the turning point, with salaries and transfers set to tumble.
Now your telling everyone that DR is worth every penny of the reported £105,000,000 spent on him…are we now to assume that you have changed your mind regarding the demise of football?
Declan Rice has always been a phenomenal player and he is worth every penny… simple as that.
Pep also saw the characteristics that MA saw in him, so that’s not a unique point, rather the point being that city wouldn’t go above their £95,000,000 valuation – I’m pretty certain every other manager in the country also saw those characteristics.
Thanks to Mr Kronkie, we got him and I believe he will be spoken about with the same kind of reverence that Patrick Vieria is.
Oh Ken! You are confusing two entirely separate matters.
On the first one, the subject is” was Rice worth paying what we did in the market as it stands”! In that market, patently it was.
But the second, far wider subject is the overall way that elite level football is and has lost its soul over very many years, even decades . And esp since the Prem began.
Now KEN I am both a realist AND an idealist, but those two stances are entirely different arguments. I trust you are keeping up with what I mean so far?!!
To be perfectly clear, I have known football is killing itself and in the longer term, we cannot possible go one paying increasing wages, transfer fees as the income will not bear it. The SAUDI situation is bringing financail ruin for everyone at top level even nearer , and quicker
TV and corporate money will only ever exist while the game continues to have mass appeal, which it does, AND(vitally) while the ordinary fan can afford to keep paying more and more each year.
Have you any idea of the countless older fans who can no longer affored to follow footballand who literally hate the way finance has ruined it and its soul?, Also younger fans who love the showbiz of it but simply have not the money? I doubt you have ANY IDEA at all,as If you had , you could see, as I DO, the mortal danger football is in ,in the longer term when the income runs out or down , as is assuredly will.
Some naive fans seem to imagine we have a magic money tree of football income, a sort of Corbyn fantasy- and I know you are a socialist , which I could never be , as it simply does not work, in practise, however cuddly a theory is it.
Ultimately Ken, football cannot escape the;law of financial life . EITHER IT LIVES WITHIN ITS REALISTIC MEANS OR IT GOES BUST, SPECTACULARLY!
For many years past, top clubs have depended entirely on the ownership of either huge and generally corrupt corporations or else hugely wealthy private individuals, as we have at Arsenal. Most of those are nort even football fans at all, let alone fans of the clubs they own Though they do through the usual bogus corporate act, of PRETENDING to be, while it suits threm
Fans like you and many others, who are besotted with our club are never going to be able to save it from financial ruin when the corporates lose interest.
Look at Everton! Alarm bells OUGHT to be going on throughout top football at their plight. IF you seriously believe it will stop with them alone, you are blinkered.
I, being both a deep and a logical thinker, have seen the coming crash from long off. IT is not here yet with ALL clubs but boom and bust economics will not save the industry.
Only careful and needed pruning of ridiculous ever rising prices will save it , in the longer term. I SUGGEST WE ALL ENJOY IT NOW, WHILE WE STILL CAN.
Financial armageddon awaits, UNLESS we change tack,in the opposite direction. And far sooner than many care to foresee. But I have LONG seen it coming down the track, as fast as any speeding train.
😇Jon, thanks for your detailed reply and, funnily enough, I did keep up with your explanation.
What I took from it and your initial reply to Shak, was the fact that you thought DR was worth every penny we paid for him, but that, eventually, it will ruin the club and football as we know it.
So my question to you now, is he REALLY worth, if this scenario is factual?
By the way, of course I realize that the game of football has priced itself out of the reach of so many people, but that has been the case for many years, long before billionaires and the Arabs became involved with English football.
We should recognise that The Arsenal have a reported waiting list of over 90,000 fans waiting to purchase season tickets and, as Dan reported in a recent article, it has become nigh on impossible to purchase tickets legally…. while touts are able to sell tickets at three or four times the face value and one can see it happening at every home game.
That indicates to me that the profile of our fans have changed, but they are more able to afford the prices being demanded.
I do look at it differently to you, however.
If The Arsenal didn’t compete in today’s world of economic mayhem, we would become an irrelevance and that’s why Mr Kronkie and his wealth is so important to the club. Everton have been in a downward spiral, again, for many years and their own billionaire owners have failed miserably, just have the Glaziers have done at Man. Utd.
So, in summary, Declan Rice has been a great signing for the club, both on the pitch, as a brilliant player… and also as a statement to the world that we are a club that is being run superbly, is able and willing to compete, financially, with every other club in the world and has adjusted to every situation in order to succeed.
Exactly, we’ve spent top so it’s not arrogant like some fans have made us to understand that we aim for the top comps like UCL and PL. Addition of players of Decs,Kai,Jurrien and David’s calibre to an already well assembled unit only strenghtens our bid.COYG!!!
A very good player and an excellent signing but not for 105 million. We overpayed as per our new tradition.
HH, in the past, we were poor cousins to the likes of city, chelsea, united and liverpool – now, thanks to Mr Kronkie, we can do to them what they did to us so many times before.
We shouldn’t knock it, we should EMBRACE it!!
Cant wait to see Rice and Partey paired together in midfield!!!!!!!!!!
Rice and Partey would be a great pairing.
And Rices price, was what it was. That is what we had to pay. Worth it or not. It does not matter.
Exactly – I also want to see the Rice / Partey partnership with, in my head, see it as a Vieria / Petit copycat – if Partey can stay fit!!
👍Ken, i dont see how we can miss the trick, its a once in a lifetime chance to pair two quality midfielders, who compliment each other.
He will prove to be a bargain by the time the next transfer window opens. He is our only player who will be difficult to rotate like for like.