Declan Rice says his turning point at Arsenal was something he’d ‘never seen before’

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Declan Rice has pinpointed one moment early in his Arsenal career as a turning point.

The 2023/24 season was Rice’s first as an Arsenal player following his £105m transfer from West Ham United. 

Mikel Arteta smashed Arsenal’s record transfer fee to sign Rice and hasn’t looked back since the 26-year-old became part of the project. 

Even Rice has been shocked by what he’s learned from Arteta so early into his time at Arsenal, in what has been two years full of highs and the occasional low.

• READ MORE: Gary Lineker and Micah Richards say Arsenal have a player whose intelligence is ‘through the roof’

Declan Rice says his goal against Manchester United was a turning point 

Signing for a club for a fee exceeding £100m automatically puts so much pressure on players to deliver.

Speaking to TNT Sports to answer questions from fans, Rice commented on what it was like to play for Arsenal after his transfer had gone through and his pricetag became common knowledge.

The midfielder spoke about the topic when reminiscing on his first goal for Arsenal, scoring a 96th-minute winner against Manchester United at the Emirates.

“When I wasn’t at Arsenal, you see how big of a club Arsenal actually is in the Emirates. Highbury, the history,” Rice explained.

“When I actually scored my first goal, obviously, the history between Arsenal and Man United as well. The way that the stadium erupted was like something I’ve never seen before.”

Rice credited the goal as being the turning point for his Arsenal career following his big-money move.

“Like players signed for clubs, especially for the fee that I signed for, people obviously expect them big moments all the time.

“Obviously, you never know when your first goal was going to come. So when I did score that I think it was like the fourth or fifth game in, it just settled me completely. It just made me feel really relaxed.

“I think after that point in my first season, I just, yeah, managed to kick on and just kind of forget about everything else, then it was a real turning point for me.”

Rice used his first goal to calm the nerves that came from his transfer and has since scored a further 15 times for Arsenal. 

David Moyes joked that Arsenal underpaid for Declan Rice

Rarely, a transfer that exceeds the £100m mark isn’t placed under the microscope, but Rice removed himself from the negative gaze by simply playing his way.

So much so that David Moyes thought Arsenal underpaid for Rice, joking that he tells fans that the Gunners still owe the Hammers £50m for his move.

“When I see Arsenal supporters, I tell them they still owe me £50 million because we only got £100 million for him,” Moyes said.

“I think that he’s proven exactly what we thought he was. He was going to become a top player.”

Rice is Arsenal’s most expensive signing and one of the Gunners’ best ever, with the tone set by the midfielder after his first Premier League goal for the club.