Declan Rice is considered a perfect signing for Mikel Arteta, and the Arsenal manager had identified him as a target well in advance. Before Rice’s impressive form at West Ham during the previous season, Arteta had already expressed his desire to work with the English midfielder.
When West Ham won the Europa Conference League, it sparked a transfer battle between Arsenal and Manchester City for Rice’s services. However, City was unaware that Arteta had already been in talks with Rice.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Arteta had been actively pursuing Rice for a considerable period, employing a charm offensive to secure the former Chelsea youth player’s signature. Eventually, Arteta’s efforts bore fruit, leading to Rice joining Arsenal.
Romano said in his column on Caught Offside:
“Declan Rice has been speaking in glowing terms about Mikel Arteta as he discussed the manager’s importance in convincing him to join Arsenal this summer. For sure, he was absolutely crucial, and I understand that what Rice has said publicly is the reality – Arteta started pushing to have Rice at the club already in January.
“Of course, to sign Rice was impossible in January, but Arteta has wanted him since January and he was pushing in internal discussions since then, and also had important discussions with the player.
“It was always crucial to have that kind of impact from the manager – Arteta is doing a really special job on and off the pitch for Arsenal. He is great at convincing the players, discussing the project, the strategy they have. With Rice, he gave a detailed picture of the tactics and how he would fit into the squad, but also about the leadership.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Rice has been one of the best midfielders in England for several seasons and is a player we are sure will do well at Arsenal.
He has the talent and the attitude to become a world class player and we are lucky to have him in our group now.
Yes indeed, Rice baby is the signing of the summer
lol…….Why keep referring a grown arss man like Decs as “baby”??
😂😂😂 Vamos I like the Decs bit 😂😂😂
What would have happened if we had signed Mudryk or Caicedo when we made those bids? Or would it have been Havertz as the one we let go of? Mudryk one seems odd now since we signed 2 central midfielders and 1 defender
I have to admit before the transfers window started,I was not very confident that we would sign or even go after Rice.i thought like many that he’d end up at Chelsea or City….