Declan Rice is the most popular man at Arsenal right now.
The England international produced one of the greatest performances in the history of the Champions League for the Gunners against Real Madrid.
Rice scored two sensational free-kicks to help Arsenal beat the champions 3-0, and the fans at the Emirates Stadium showered him with love.
The 26-year-old completely deserves that, but Mikel Arteta isn’t quite in agreement with what all the supporters were singing about Rice on Tuesday night.
Mikel Arteta hilariously disagrees with Arsenal fans’ chant about Declan Rice
Arsenal signed Rice for an initial fee of £100 million from West Ham United in the summer of 2023.
That made the midfielder the Gunners’ most expensive signing of all time, and everyone will agree that he has been worth every penny.
Some will even argue that Rice has been a bargain for Arsenal – his performances over the last 20 months have been that good.
That has led to chants at the Emirates and in away grounds from Arsenal fans that go: ‘We got him half-price!’
That chant has been around for well over a year now, and it was sung loudly following Rice’s phenomenal display against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
In his press conference on Friday, Arteta was asked about that chant, and everyone in the media room was left laughing on hearing the Arsenal manager’s response.
“I don’t think so,” he said.
David Moyes has been saying one thing about Declan Rice for years
David Moyes knows Rice as well as anybody.
The midfielder played more games for the Scot than he has under any other manager in his career, and it was under him that Rice became a £100 million player.
However, for a long time now, the former West Ham boss has claimed that Rice is worth a lot more than what Arsenal paid for him.
Even recently, before the game against Everton, Moyes claimed that Arsenal still owe him £50 million because Rice is worth £150 million.
We now know what Arteta thinks about that.
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