Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has finally opened up on whether he’s improved as a player since leaving West Ham United.
West Ham sold Declan Rice to Arsenal for £105 million in the summer transfer window, and he has played a key role ever since for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Many Hammers fans weren’t happy with the way in which Dec left the London Stadium, after claims of him meeting Mikel Arteta back in January 2023 (The Mirror) and conversations with Kai Havertz about moving to the Emirates long before he swapped East London for North London.
However, the 25-year-old suggested just a couple of days ago that his love for the West Ham fans has never changed, and vice-versa.
We all knew how good Dec is, and how much potential he has. He performed to extremely high levels with West Ham for three seasons before joining the Gunners.
But is he a better player now than he was before?
Was Declan Rice better at Arsenal than he was at West Ham
Many people are suggesting that Dec has gone up another level this season.
But Rice insisted he was playing as well with West Ham as he is now with Arsenal, when speaking to ESPN:
“I’ll be honest, some people might stand here and say ‘Yeah, I’ve surprised myself,’ but I haven’t,” Rice tells ESPN. “I was playing this well at West Ham, I feel like my levels at West Ham gave me so much confidence and belief in myself to have that belief I can be a top Premier League player. But the main thing was to be myself. Not to change anything. Just because I have been signed for £105 million, don’t do anything different, just be myself. Things can unlock and so far things have gone really well. I’ve signed for six years and there is still such a long way to go in my Arsenal career.”
However, Rice did caveat that by admitting that his role with Arsenal has completely changed:
“My role has completely changed to what I was doing at West Ham and it has taken time to adapt, to improve, to ask questions, and I am really just trying to buy into it. I was bought for a lot of money, I want to ask questions and improve, and I want to win stuff with this club.”
I think the main difference between the Rice of last season and this one is that he is expected to be more involved in the play inside the final third.
Declan Rice was incredible at West Ham, and he has been fantastic at Arsenal. It will be interesting to see if he goes on to win anything big with the Gunners.
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