After Wednesday’s barnstorming win over Bayern Munich, Declan Rice, who was immense on the night, openly declared that his game has hit a new level.
“I’m probably playing the best football of my career,” he told CBS Sports.
“I feel so confident, every time I’m training, every time I’m stepping on the pitch, I’m probably the fittest I’ve been as well. When you’ve got all these things going for you, I think when you step on the football pitch, you know what’s going to happen.
“I’ve just got that confidence at the minute, I’m really happy with my game, long may it continue. You’ve got to enjoy the ride.”
Rice really did seem to be everywhere in that second half against Bayern: whipping dangerous set pieces into the box (sorry, Joshua!), bulldozing 60-yard carries, flattening Harry Kane and roaring in his face, hoovering up loose balls and sparking the move for Arsenal’s second goal. If someone had given him a leg-up, you half expect he’d have been bouncing in the North Bank leading a chant.
It was an all-action display, the sort that prompted pundits to describe him as the best midfielder in Europe right now. If the £100 million fee wasn’t quite “half price” at the time, it’s certainly trending in that direction.
So is this version of Rice the finished article? Has he reached the level Mikel Arteta envisioned when Arsenal signed him?
That question was put to the manager ahead of Sunday’s game with Chelsea, the club that released Rice at 14.
“Probably, yes. A year or two ago, yes. But now, being with him every single day and understanding and connecting with him in the way that I’ve done, we’re going to get more, because he wants more, he’s going to get more.
“The team knows him better; his role is growing around the team, the impact that he has on the team is huge, and we’ll find ways to make him even better.”
Given he played centre-back as a kid, excelled as a six at West Ham, and is thriving box-to-box for Arsenal, the natural next step is to add even more end product. His numbers have already spiked since moving to the Emirates – 44 goal contributions in 122 appearances (18 goals, 26 assists) versus 28 in 245 at West Ham – but could he become a major threat around the penalty area?
“Well, that would vary in relation to the position as well, the spaces that he occupies and how often he’s in certain areas, but there will be other areas that he will evolve,” said Arteta.
He added: “He can adapt to anything that you throw at him. But yeah, at the moment, that forward thinking and anything that is in front of him is probably much more positive for the team.”
Before the season began, Arsenal legend Tony Adams called for Rice to be handed the armband. While Martin Odegaard’s status made that a non-starter, Rice was voted into the leadership group alongside Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino and Gabriel Magalhaes – a sign of how quickly he’s become central in the dressing room.
On Rice’s growing stature, Arteta noted: “He was a captain at West Ham, he comes here to a new club, new environment, obviously, there are things that are already set. But he has earned the right to increase that role, to be more and more important, to be very present in everything that we do.
“He’s in the leadership group, which is very important as well, and it’s a real presence, and sometimes you don’t need to just wear the armband to feel really connected, really powerful and really important in the team.”
It’s said that Arsene Wenger took just 20 minutes watching Rice play for West Ham’s under-18s to identify him as a future star. But when did it click for Arteta? Was there a single moment that convinced him Rice had to be signed?
“I don’t think you have to be a genius. I knew him for a long time, and I knew how he could help evolve and change the team, and he certainly improved those expectations.
“Probably there is [a specific game], I have to think about it, but most of the time if you have the option to see a player live and sense him and get that energy, that presence, that charisma that the player has on top of his qualities, it’s something else.
“Probably when he was around, I said, hmm, that’s a special player.”
And he is – special in the way only truly elite midfielders ever are: decisive, dominant, and increasingly the heartbeat of this Arsenal side.