Mikel Arteta can now sign player with Declan Rice-esque qualities for Arsenal – at a quarter of the price

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Mikel Arteta, if he wants to win the Premier League with Arsenal, will have to keep investing in talent.

Arteta has transformed the Gunners squad since he arrived in 2019, but none may have been more influential than the signing of Declan Rice.

But it came at a price. Arsenal had to fork out £100m for the West Ham star, with a potential £5m in add-ons.

Saying this, a player like Rice doesn’t come around often. He’s been invaluable to the Gunners setup and is arguably the first name on the team sheet every game at the Emirates.

So can Mikel Arteta afford to not buy someone with Rice-esque qualities for a fraction of the price?

Arsenal can sign Chris Rigg for £25m

Chris Rigg could be Gunners-bound in the summer, with Arteta keen to bring the Sunderland wonderkid to the Emirates.

Arsenal Insider exclusively revealed the Gunners had sent scouts to watch Rigg – and reports have now further backed up summer interest.

Caught Offside states that a long list of top clubs are on alert as the 17-year-old attacking midfielder could be available for around £25million in the summer transfer window. A quarter of Rice’s fee.

This includes the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United, who have all ‘looked closely at him’.

Rigg is one of the Championshi[‘s hottest prospects and has dazzled for the Black Cats this season. The young Englishman looks more than comfortable playing high-level first-team football, so a move to the Premier League certainly can’t be ruled out.

Rigg emulates Declan Rice-esque qualities

Whilst Rice and Rigg are very different players in stature, they share a lot of the same traits on the football pitch.

Rigg is tenacious, a workaholic, can attack and defend and is an astute box-to-box midfielder. Sound familiar?

Tony Mowbray, the Sunderland skipper who gave Rigg his debut, has compared him to the likes of Premier League icon, Roy Keane.

‘He has that Roy Keane-esque type of nastiness,’ said Mowbray. “He is this warrior-like character. He wants to win every tackle, every five-a-side, every contest he’s in.”

Rigg himself even identified the particular skill sets he possessed. Which sounds astoundingly like the qualities Rice possesses at Arsenal.

“I’m just a traditional midfielder. I love to attack, I love to defend, I love a tackle as well. Kind of a box-to-box midfielder.”

He’s a gem, that’s for sure, and Arsenal would be lucky to have him, particularly playing alongside Rice.