‘I miss him’… £18m midfielder says he wishes he still played with ‘great’ player Arsenal signed

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Declan Rice left West Ham to join Arsenal over the summer, and it’s fair to say that this deal has had plenty of knock-on effects.

Indeed, Arsenal appear to have gone to another level since Rice joined the club, while West Ham seem to be much more defensively frail, recently being hit for six by Arsenal and losing 5-0 to Fulham.

Of course, it’s impossible to pin West Ham’s poor defensive record completely on Rice’s absence, but it certainly hasn’t helped.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Tomas Soucek has been discussing Rice’s move to Arsenal, and he admitted that he is missing Rice in the team at the moment, but, at the same time, he’s happy to see him doing so well at Arsenal.

Tomas Soucek misses Declan Rice

The £18m man spoke about Rice.

“Yeah I used to play with Dec for three or more years. It was a great experience, he’s a great player, a lovely person and I’m so happy he’s doing well with Arsenal, but also for me it’s a bit different. On one side I miss him, but on the opposite side we need to find a way to get good midfield players. We bought a few and we bring a few in, we found a way to play with each other. It can take time, but it’s been quite quick,” Soucek said.

Difficult

We can absolutely understand why Soucek is missing Rice.

Indeed, Soucek’s job has become so much harder since Rice left the London Stadium.

Rice did so much work in that midfield to the point he made Soucek’s life so much easier, but now, he has to pick up more of the slack.

Rice was so important to this West Ham team, and while the Hammers are coping well enough without him, it has to be said that they were much more solid as a unit when Rice was in the side.