‘He’s the best’: Declan Rice says he’s ‘already’ been blown away by one Arsenal man

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Declan Rice is Arsenal’s newest signing, and he’s currently going through a bit of a settling-in period.

The midfielder has been at the Gunners for almost two weeks now, and he’s getting to know all of his new teammates and the staff.

Arsenal have so many talented individuals at the club right now, but Rice has now gone on the record to say that he’s been utterly blown away by Mikel Arteta already when speaking to ESPN.

Indeed, Rice says that within 10 days of working with Arteta he’s already seeing football in a different way, he’s learning new things everyday and he stated that he firmly believes that Arteta is the best man to help him get to the next level of his development.

Arteta impressing

Rice spoke about his new manager.

“I don’t think it was what he said to me. I’ve been watching Arsenal since he took over, and even in his first year you could see what he was trying to build. The trajectory of what they’ve been doing and how he wants to play. I spoke to a few players and how they’ve improved, and after I’d spoken to him as well it was everything I wanted really,” Rice said.

“I’m 24, you only get one career and I know I have a couple more stages I can get to in my improvement and he’s the best man to do that. Already in the 10 days I’ve been here I’m seeing football in a different way, I’m learning things everyday and that’s what I want to do, I want to test myself and that’s why you play football and I want to improve.”

Culture shock

Rice says he’s learning new things everyday under Arteta, and, in all honesty, that’s not surprising to hear.

With all due respect, Rice has spent the majority of his career playing under David Moyes – a manager whose tactical outlook isn’t exactly the most modern, so to go from that to playing under Arteta is a huge switch.

It may take some time for Rice to get used to Arteta’s style, but it sounds as though he is relishing the chance to work under such an exciting young coach.