Declan Rice: 8 Interesting Facts About New Arsenal Midfielder

• Arsenal finally confirmed the signing of Declan Rice on Saturday
• The midfielder was unveiled with a Nigerian hit song named after him
• He is no stranger to the North London environment and faces

Arsenal ended the long wait over Declan Rice when the midfielder was unveiled yesterday, weeks after it was first reported that the deal had been agreed.

He immediately teamed up with the team as they headed for the United States for their pre-season tour ahead of the 2023/23 season, having missed the friendly against Nuremberg in Germany.

Sports Brief looks at five interesting facts about the England midfielder as first curated by Arsenal's official website.

1. First pro goal against Arsenal

Rice scored his first West Ham goal against his current team to secure all three points for the Hammers in a 1-0 win over Unai Emery's Arsenal. Former mate Eddie Nketiah is the only match-day squad member still at the club from that day.

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2. Long history with Nketiah

According to Squawka, Rice and Nketiah are some of the former Chelsea academy graduates to make it elsewhere. Both players were released on the same, and the 24-year-old admitted to eating from his mate's homemade cuisine during their long away trips.

3. He idolises Jorginho

Arsenal missed out on Moises Caicedo in January and immediately went for experienced midfielder Jorginho for £12m from rivals Chelsea. The Italian is one of the players the England international claims to watch to improve his midfield skills. Now he can learn closely.

4. U21 record holder

After playing every minute of the 2019/20 season, he joined an exclusive list of U21 players to achieve this feat in the Premier League. Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Gary Kelly were the other three. He also played over 50 games in consecutive seasons between 2021 and 2023.

5. First of his kind

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20 players have played for both Arsenal and West Ham, but Rice is the first to move directly from East to North London. Jack Wilshere, Freddie Ljunberg, Alex Song, Ian Wright and Lukasz Fabianski have represented both clubs.

6. Legendary West Ham captain

Rice's departure may have hurt West Ham, as evident in the club statement confirming his departure, which made no mention of his destination and had some strong words, but it is undeniable he is a club legend as he was one of three captains to lift major silverware at the club after Bobby Moore and Billy Bonds.

7. Away from football

The three-time Hammer of the Year enjoys playing golf, walking his dog and playing video games at his leisure. He also admits to being a sneakers fanatic and owns a lot of footwear.

8. Pre-game ritual

Not exactly a ritual, but the player eats the same meal before every game regardless of what time of the day. He eats sea bass and rice. He retained his number 41 at the Emirates and revealed it was assigned to him by the academy kit-man and that there was nothing special behind it.

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Arsenal unveil Rice with viral song

Sports Brief reported that Arsenal unveiled Rice with Odumodublvck's song, named after their new star "Declan Rice."

The Nigerian artiste released the song months ago and enjoyed massive airwaves; he linked up with the former Chelsea academy star in London weeks ago.