Aaron Ramsdale left sweating over Arsenal future as Mikel Arteta turns to David Raya
Declan Rice has revealed that Mikel Arteta left him embarrassed on his first day at Arsenal following his big-money move from West Ham this summer. The England midfielder joined Arsenal in exchange for a transfer fee of £105million and has already established himself as a fan favourite in north London.
Rice has enjoyed a strong start to life at the Emirates Stadium, scoring a crucial winning goal for the Gunners against Manchester United before the international break. He also forms one-third of Arteta’s chosen midfield partnership alongside Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz.
It has not been all plain sailing for Rice since his move, though, after being left embarrassed by his manager on his very first day at their London Colney training base.
“I was a bit nervous,” Rice told the Tubes and Ange Golf Life Channel. “The first day I was down there on the Sunday, the lads weren’t in but I came out of the physio room and Arteta, just like little things he does, he put like a sticker on me saying ‘hello, I’m the new person’.
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“I’ve got to wear as the gaffer has put it on me! He just walked in and put it on my chest. All the [under] 18s and 21s [were] in the canteen and I’m walking through trying to hide my chest. Just little things like that.”
Rice already knew several of his Arsenal team-mates before his move to the Gunners, with the likes of Aaron Ramsdale, Bukayo Saka and Ben White playing alongside him for England. He would have also been familiar with the rest of the squad after playing against them in the Premier League, but Arteta clearly felt that he needed a helping hand in breaking the ice.
The Spaniard’s cheeky joke marked the start of what Rice feels will be a successful relationship between player and coach, with the 24-year-old admitting that he has already learned a great deal under Arteta’s guidance this season.
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“I think in the last four weeks alone I’ve grown so much,” he told TNT Sports before Arsenal’s opening match against Nottingham Forest. ‘I’ve learned so much about football that I hadn’t really seen before. I was blown away by him. Of course, I’m now working with him day by day, it’s another level.
“Seeing how he works, how his mind operates, picking up stuff, seeing how he goes into detail on the opposition and seeing how he wants to improve us as players individually collectively. It’s really impressive.”
Rice has slotted straight into Arsenal’s midfield since making the move across London and will make his long-awaited Champions League debut next week against PSV. He helped West Ham to win their first European trophy in almost 50 years last season and will be hoping to follow up by shining once again with the Gunners this time around.
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