How Arsenal have transformed the career of Declan Rice
Since Declan Rice arrived at the Emirates last July in a club-record signing deal of £105 million from West Ham, his career has only jumped to greater heights while helping Arsenal too.
The former Hammer who had only just taken West Ham to 2022/23 Europa League Conference glory as captain, before signing certainly had a lot to live up to when becoming a Gunner.
However the back to back Euro finalist (2020 and 2024) with England filled his boots even more at London Colney in the middle of the park upon arrival. In relation to the statistics on Transfer Market Rice nearly doubled the tally of goals he had the previous year at the London Stadium. After his first 38 Premier League games in an Arsenal shirt he had seven goals when he had only recorded four during the 2022/23 West Ham season in the top-flight of English football.
That wasn’t his greatest feat though he supplied almost five times the number of goals in comparison to the 2022/23 Hammers Premier League run with nine assists.
One thing which hasn’t changed though for the midfielder is his disciplinary record. For the second consecutive year the referee handed him the yellow card five times.
His defensive displays served his name well performing more successful tackles (83) more than any other Gunner last season and having the third joint highest number in the Premier League.
Rice formed one of the greatest Premier League partnerships in the midfield alongside Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard and certainly helped The Gunners pick up the pace when needed at times during matches with his almighty drives from defence to attack.
Despite wearing a 2023 winner’s medal in Budapest after West Ham beat Italian side AFC Fiorentina 2-1 in the Europa League Conference final, Rice had never won a piece of English domestic silverware until joining Arsenal. This saw him lift the 2023 Community Shield after Arsenal knocked down Manchester City 4-1 on penalties after drawing 1-1 after 90 minutes, fighting back from a goal down in the final minutes of the encounter. Like any other English player he would’ve preferred to have won the Premiership which Arsenal failed to do at the end of his first season in May.
Hopefully for him and Arsenal he tastes Premier League success during the up and coming 2024/25 season!
Liam Harding