Declan Rice has become an integral part of Arsenal’s midfield since he joined in the summer of 2023 from West Ham United.
The England international plays as a defensive midfielder who likes to pick the ball up in midfield and feed it forward to Arsenal’s playmakers in Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.
Declan Rice came to the Emirates in 2023 for a fee of £105 million which is Arsenal’s most expensive signing of all time and the third most costly in Premier League history behind Jack Grealish’s move to City and Enzo Fernandez’s move to Chelsea.
He spoke out about the pressure he felt when moving to the Emirates due to his hefty transfer fee. He told the Times in November 2023: “When the transfer was going through, I was very nervous because of the price tag.
“I want to repay the club back straight away… there’s an expectation of being bought for that much money.”
However, since joining the Gunners, Rice has been impressive making 62 appearances scoring eight goals and 13 assists – good numbers for a defensive midfielder.
Rice became a West Ham United legend before joining Arsenal
Declan Rice began playing football at Chelsea’s academy in 2006 when he was just seven years old. He worked his way through the age groups at Stamford Bridge before moving to West Ham’s academy in 2013 aged 14.
He made an appearance for the U18s and 32 appearances for the U21s before signing his first professional contract at West Ham in 2015 aged just 16.
Rice made his senior debut against Burnley in the 2016/17 Premier League season when he was 18 and he was about to break out as a Hammer under David Moyes in the 2017/18 season.
The England international made 34 appearances primarily playing as a centre back and was the runner up in the ‘Hammer of the Year’ award which was won by attacker Marko Arnautovic.
The following season, Rice established himself under Manuel Pellegrini as he made 34 appearances again and was the first player since Michael Carrick to make 50 appearances whilst still a teenager. During the same season, Rice scored his first goal for West Ham in a 1-0 win over Arsenal.
He was nominated for the PFA Young player of the Year which eventually went to Arsenal and England teammate Raheem Sterling.
Rice then established himself as more of a defensive midfielder as over the next three Premier League seasons he made 106 appearances and scored four goals.
In the 2022/23 season, he then captained West Ham to their first European title since 1965 when they won the Europa Conference League in May 2023. It was a fitting farewell for Rice who had made over 240 appearances during his time at West Ham.
He then moved to Arsenal for a fee of £105 million and has become a key part of Mikel Arteta’s team in their pursuit of Manchester City for the Premier League title.
Becoming the anchor in England’s midfield
Declan Rice made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in 2018 as his grandparents were from County Cork in Ireland.
However, he only made three appearances for the Irish team before committing his national allegiance to the Three Lions in 2019.
However, he had to wait until March 2020 to make his first appearance in an England shirt as it came in a game against the Czech Republic at Wembley Stadium when Rice was substituted on by Gareth Southgate in the 63rd minute of the game.
He began to establish himself as a mainstay in Southgate’s team, starting in all seven matches during England’s Euro 2020 campaign when they were runners up to Italy.
The midfielder has now made 60 appearances for England at the age of 25 and has scored twice for his country.
Three things you didn’t know about Arsenal midfielder Rice
He had his own record-breaking moment in the 2019/20 season at West Ham as Rice became the fourth player aged 21 and under to play in every minute of a Premier League season playing for 3,420 minutes.
Furthermore, ironic to his name, Declan Rice eats the same pre-match meal before every single game as he has a portion of Seabass with…rice.
Finally, Declan Rice had a memorable moment during his time in England’s Euro 2020 squad as he revealed on Sky’s A League of their Own that he got up on stage and sung Oasis song ‘Wonderwall’ with Ed Sheeran as a punishment for being late to training.