Declan Rice has admitted that he ‘would never have’ done one thing he loves to with Arsenal whilst at West Ham United after Mikel Arteta took his game to another level.
The 25-year-old signed with the Gunners in a club-record transfer in July and has proven to be worth every penny. Rice has been a fundamental piece of the Arsenal engine room under Arteta this season. He has played in 48 of their 49 games and has also started in 45 games.
Rice is even enjoying his most prolific campaign of first-team football with six goals and nine assists so far. He is also yet to lose after scoring after helping seal five wins and a draw in the Premier League. Rice also penned one of his assists over their run in the Champions League.
Arsenal star Declan Rice would ‘never’ have played as an advanced No6 at West Ham
But it is not Rice’s greater goal involvement rate in red-and-white than claret-and-blue that he would ‘never’ have done at West Ham. Instead, the 50-cap England international claims Arteta has unlocked his ability to break past defenders and find pockets of space to exploit.
Rice has opened up on how Arteta instantly saw more in his locker after signing for Arsenal last July. The former Chelsea academy prospect set the Gunners back an initial £100m, plus £5m in add-ons, as the most expensive transfer Arsenal have ever secured by nearly £30m.
READ MORE: The 25 most expensive transfers that Arsenal have ever signed
Rice has cited Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace last August as a perfect example of Arteta utilising his skillset. The Gunners visited Selhurst Park for their second game of the term and saw Rice combine with Bukayo Saka and Ben White to guide Eddie Nketiah through on goal.
“I would never have done this before,” Rice has told The Athletic. “I probably only learnt this about two or three weeks earlier. So, when Saka gets the ball, that space there [behind their left-back] is occupied by no one.
“And it’s happened a lot this season where I make that run into there and you’re free. The manager calls it playing in a ‘good height’. If I’m back [deeper], we can’t progress the play. We’d end up going back to Ben and back to the centre-half.
“So, that’s why he says he wants his No6s to always be in ‘good height’. Obviously, I’ve then read the moment, stepped onto it and slipped in Eddie. It looks very simple but it’s quite a thought process that goes into it.”
Declan Rice has shattered his personal-best single-season goal and assist records
Rice adds that Arteta told him while trying to tempt the midfielder to join Arsenal that they could see him playing a greater, attacking role at Emirates Stadium than he enjoyed at West Ham. The midfielder left London Stadium with 15 goals and 13 assists in 245 senior outings.
The London native also set his personal-best returns in 2021/22 and 2022/23 with five goals and four assists in 50 games during each term. He could play in 51 games during his debut season at Arsenal if Rice features in each of their final three Premier League fixtures, as well.