How Declan Rice has transformed Arsenal
Every big signing craves a first big moment at their new club. For Declan Rice, that moment arrived in the 96th minute of his fifth match for Arsenal. In one action, spanning three glorious seconds, Rice controlled the ball on his chest, lashed his finish into Manchester United’s net and fully announced himself as an Arsenal player.
It was the first goal, the first match-winning intervention and the first sign, to Arsenal’s supporters at least, that the club had found a player who would be a genuine game-changer for Mikel Arteta’s side. At the final whistle of that victory in September, it was “Ice, ice baby” – Rice’s initiation song at Arsenal – that boomed out over the loudspeaker.
The moment meant a lot to Arsenal’s supporters, who danced down the streets of north London afterwards, and it was also deeply significant for Rice. So much so that, in his box at the Emirates Stadium, a framed picture of his celebration against United now hangs on the wall.
Rice was not signed to score last-minute winners. After all, he is predominantly a defensive midfielder. Such is the 24-year-old’s sheer force of personality, though, he has already done it twice this season. First against United, and then in the 97th minute of Arsenal’s 4-3 victory at Luton Town earlier this month.
At Luton, there was no prospect of Rice’s song being played over the stadium speakers. Instead, the Arsenal players sang it among themselves in the away dressing room. Their celebrations were so raucous, it is understood, that they provoked irritated grumbles from some members of Luton’s backroom staff.
Later that night, in his post-match press conference, Arteta made a prediction. Asked whether he ever expected Rice to produce two stoppage-time winners in his first season, the Arsenal manager smiled. “Three,” he said. “There is one more to go. It will happen. I don’t know when, but it will happen.”
Perhaps it will be against Liverpool this weekend. There could hardly be a better place for it – Arsenal have not won at Anfield in the league since 2012 – and you certainly would not put it beyond the irrepressible Rice, who has somehow managed to exceed the enormous expectations that came with his £105 million transfer from West Ham United.
At the time of his arrival, Arsenal and their supporters were hoping to see a player of presence and class. A man who could add to their midfield and, in time, represent the new heartbeat of the team. After just a few months, they have seen all that – and so much more. With his power, character, reading of the game and taste for match-defining moments, Rice has adapted more quickly and effectively than anyone could have imagined.
Such has been the scale of his impact, a group of Arsenal supporters recently set up a crowdfunding page to raise another £25 million for West Ham. It was done in jest, of course, but it underlined a serious point: not one person of an Arsenal persuasion, inside or outside the club, believes that they overpaid for Rice’s services.
Rice wasted little time in learning Arteta’s way
How has Rice adjusted to his new club, and a totally new style of play, so quickly? Much of it comes down to his enthusiasm and willingness to improve. Despite his transfer fee, Rice did not stroll through the doors at the Emirates with the belief that he is the finished article. He knew there was so much more for him to learn, especially about Arteta’s system, and he instantly got to work.
On Arsenal’s pre-season tour of the United States, Rice began to grasp the various tactical requirements of playing for Arteta. It was different to West Ham, and it was not easy. After a friendly defeat by United in New Jersey, for example, he went through video clips with one of Arteta’s coaches. It was pointed out to him that his incorrect positioning in midfield had stopped the team from building a pattern of play.
Throughout pre-season, Rice asked for more of those meetings. He wanted to learn it all, and he wanted to do so quickly. In his mind there was no time to waste and, by the start of the Premier League campaign, he could feel his understanding growing. “Everything is starting to click,” he said in August.
Arteta: Rice can ‘light up the others’
Off the pitch, Rice has endeared himself to his new colleagues with his openness and outgoing nature. He is not part of any particular clique within the squad, instead flitting between them all, and he is just as likely to have lunch with the kit men and physios as with other first-team stars. Sources describe a player who has worked hard to get to know every part of the club and everyone in it, just as he did at West Ham. “I see him like a lighthouse,” said Arteta in the summer. “He will light up the others.”
It helped Rice that two of Arsenal’s chefs also joined from West Ham in recent years, and that he knew the likes of Bukayo Saka, Aaron Ramsdale and Eddie Nketiah before arriving. Rice has never been the shy type, but familiar faces are always welcome in times like these. He has since admitted to being nervous on his first day, when Arteta slapped a sticker on his chest. “Hello, I’m the new person,” it read.
Staying in London, too, will undoubtedly have made the adaptation process easier. Rice remains close to his old friends at West Ham – especially Mark Noble, the former captain and current sporting director, who has attended a number of Arsenal matches this season.
The Rice family is remarkably close-knit. Rice does not have an agent, instead choosing to be managed and guided by his brothers and parents, and his family never seems to be far away. When he ran out of moisturiser on tour in Los Angeles this summer, for example, his mother brought some more to the team’s hotel.
As a person, Rice appears to be the most normal of 24-year-old lads. The Arsenal fans can feel that, too. As a player, though, he is far from normal – and far from the peak of his powers. Next month he turns 25, and his contract at the Emirates runs until the summer of 2028. For Arsenal, the most exciting thought of all is that he is only just getting started.
