Edu Gaspar’s biggest move as Arsenal’s sporting director was signing Declan Rice.
The Brazilian sanctioned several big moves when he was at the helm at the Emirates Stadium, but none were as expensive as the deal to bring in the midfielder.
Arsenal agreed a £105 million deal to sign Rice in the summer of 2023, and that has proved to be one of the best signings of all time, despite the high price.
Edu has now given an insight into how the signing came about.
🤔 Is Declan Rice a number six or a number eight?
Edu Gaspar says he made clear at Arsenal that he would sign Declan Rice irrespective of the cost
There haven’t been many signings in English football over the years who have been as effective as Declan Rice at Arsenal.
The Englishman has barely put a foot wrong in the famous red and white and has arguably been the club’s best player in each of his three seasons.
This season, Rice has been on another level, and he has been one of the biggest reasons why Arsenal won the Premier League.
Edu Gaspar probably envisaged that when he first decided to sign Rice. The Brazilian has revealed that he was prepared to pay any amount of money to get him to the club.
While explaining what Phase four of Arteta’s plan was, he told ESPN: “Bring Declan Rice! I remember it exactly the way I’m going to explain to you.
“We said, ‘We need a top, top English player who has a good reputation everywhere: in the press, in the clubs, in every aspect, to give some more credibility to English football. Because we are a club in England and we need to have the best English players in our squad, like Bukayo Saka.
“We needed someone to impact properly and make sure that the player is going to be with us for 10 years. It is not just in terms of, ‘Let’s bring the player here and sell the player.’ No!
“Let’s invest in the player and run the process with us to make a difference.”
When asked about all the talk that the price was too high, Edu replied: “We were so sure about it because we said no price is going to stop us from buying this player.”
Fill the blanks: The year is 2030 and Declan Rice is now worth £____.
Signing Declan Rice changed Arsenal’s fortunes
Arsenal have made a number of signings since Mikel Arteta took charge of the club all the way back in December 2019.
There have been many success stories over the years.
Gabriel Magalhaes and David Raya have changed the game at the back, while Martin Odegaard, Eberechi Eze, Kai Havertz and Viktor Gyokeres have all contributed as well.
However, Rice has been the most transformative signing Arsenal have made in Arteta’s tenure.
Nobody else has had a bigger impact, and without him, an argument can be made that the Gunners wouldn’t have won the Premier League title this season.
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