Mikel Arteta has opened up on Declan Rice keeping his promise to join Arsenal despite interest from Manchester City.
Arsenal signed the Englishman in the last transfer window for a record-breaking fee, but it was not an easy pursuit.
They had several offers for his signature rejected by West Ham and Manchester City tried to take advantage to enter the race.
But after just a bid, the defending champions gave up on pursuing a move for him, with Arsenal eventually getting their man.
The Gunners are enjoying Rice, with some fans even believing they paid less than they should for the midfielder.
Speaking about signing the former Chelsea trainee in the summer, Mikel Arteta said, as quoted by The Sun:
“When I spoke to Declan Rice, he mentioned to me many times from day one ‘I just want to play for Arsenal and I want to play with you’.
“He maintained his word to the last moment and we were good enough to acquire him.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Rice is a man of talent and character and could end his spell with us as a club legend.
There is hardly a midfielder who has made a more brilliant start to life in our colours than his and we back him to continue improving.
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Declan Rice is Irish, not English…jus sayin
It’s not up to you to determine his nationality. He has identified as English and plays for the national team.
@David
I’m not determining his ethnicity, just stating a fact. If you got out of your feelings and looked it up, you’d see he played 3caps for the Irish under 21s before he committed to the English squad. By the way, Jack Grealish is Irish also. Sorry to be the one to introduce you to reality. But hey, someone had to. Jus sayin
Both were born in England and have Irish heritage through grandparents. By that measure, rice is half Irish, I think, and Grealish more so. Not sure of the relevance tbh.
I am surprised; I thot those details mattered only in less developed societies but not in modern day Europe where one can freely choose nationality irrespective of race, colour, ethnicity etc
NY_ Gunner, I realise many USA citizens have an affinity with Ireland, for reasons of ancestry, among others.
But TRUTH says that you are talking nonsense .
Both Rice and Grealish were born in England and raised as English and though both have some relatives with Irish blood, that does NOT make those players Irish.
Both are full English internationals and speak without any trace of an Irish accept . “Jus sayin” the TRUTH!
The other teams who entered the fray to sign him were just the disruption of the “clear and obvious” decision made by Rice long before the entire fiasco that West Ham created.