Declan Rice reveals hilarious item Mikel Arteta made him wear when he was ‘nervous’ on his first day at Arsenal
DECLAN RICE has revealed how Mikel Arteta welcomed him to Arsenal on his first day at the club.
The midfielder joined the Gunners in a record-breaking £105million transfer from West Ham in July.
He quickly settled into the squad and has since made four Premier League appearances, scoring once and earning two Player of the Match awards.
Rice has been full of praise for Arteta, admitting he was “blown away” by the Spaniard when he made the switch to the Emirates Stadium.
And he recently revealed that the Arsenal boss broke the ice in a hilarious way on his first day at London Colney.
Speaking on the Tubes and Ange Golf Life YouTube channel, the midfielder said: “I was a bit nervous. The first day I was down there on the Sunday, the lads weren’t in but I come out of the physio room and Arteta, just like little things he does, he put like a sticker on me saying ‘hello I’m the new person’.
“He just walked in and put it on my chest. All the 18s and 21s in the canteen and I’m walking through trying to hide my chest! Just little things like that.”
Rice scored his first goal for Arsenal during the club’s 3-1 win over Manchester United last week.
With the score locked at 1-1, the midfielder controlled the ball in the box before firing it past Andre Onana and into the back of the net.
Gabriel Jesus then sealed the three points with a sensational solo goal.
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After the match, Rice said: “To score and feel the stadium erupt with the sigh of relief that we got the three points from such a massive fixture, it’s incredible and what we play football for.
“To bounce back and show that fight and spirit and hunger with such a young team, you can see the mentality in the squad that we’ll never give up. Mindset, mentality, energy.
“We’re creating the chances but just not finishing them off at the moment. It will come and the manager is on us to keep improving every day.
“We’re eager and hungry to learn and this squad is capable of doing good things.”