kNaru0online
Arsenal knew Declan Rice wasn’t a player who could be pigeonholed into a single role when they signed him from West Ham in the summer of 2023.
While many saw him purely as a defensive midfielder, Mikel Arteta understood that Rice could be a far more versatile presence, the very heart of Arsenal.
And Arteta’s foresight is proving correct.
Early in their relationship, Arteta compared Rice to a ‘lighthouse’.
“Someone who brings a focal point, clarity and direction to everyone.”
The Spaniard was asked to elaborate on that analogy at his press conference ahead of tonight’s match against Brentford.
“You look at him and you know where you have to go. He has the presence, the aura, the character to be that. He is that. I felt from the beginning he had the potential to be that, and now he is a real lighthouse. It’s very difficult to do that at a big club like Arsenal, but he deserves it. He has earned it with his attitude and his performances at the highest level in every aspect.”
One manifestation of that is on the pitch, with Rice evolving consistently throughout his two-and-a-half years in north London.
Most of his first six months in north London saw him operate as a No 6, before pushing on as a box-to-box midfielder in the latter half of his debut season.
From January 2024 onwards, he’s become Arsenal’s set-piece taker, racking up assists and, in 2025, scoring twice with sensational free-kicks against Real Madrid that earned him a Puskas Award nomination.
Rice’s evolution continues in his other abilities, too. His carrying of the ball forward, and the new spaces he has occupied thanks to the arrival of Mikel Merino, are further examples.
That growth was officially recognised earlier this week.
He was voted the Football Supporters’ Association’s Men’s Player of the Year for 2025, by fans across the country.
The transformation has also been evident in other ways.
The 3-1 Champions League victory over Bayern Munich was the first time Rice had captained Arsenal.
He wore the armband for 13 minutes, in the absence of Bukayo Saka and before Martin Ødegaard came on, a stint that felt akin to him having a symbiote attached to his arm for anyone familiar with the Spider-Man universe.
Much like how the everyday Spider-Man transforms into the stronger, darker, more vengeful Black Suit hero.
Rice’s post-match comments also conveyed that sentiment. Speaking about a robust tackle he’d made on Harry Kane, he said:
“This season, we can feel the anger in the players’ eyes.”
When asked about Rice’s development as a leader ahead of Chelsea’s visit, Arteta responded:
“He was captain at West Ham too. He came to a new club, a new environment, into many things that were already built, but he earned himself a bigger role. He’s becoming more and more important and involved in everything we do. He’s part of the leadership group and he’s a player with a massive presence. He’s a player who connects strongly with the team and has a big impact without necessarily needing the armband.”
This point is true for many at Arsenal.
While Ødegaard is respected as captain, Saka, Gabriel and Merino have all worn the armband at various stages of the season, filling in for an absent Ødegaard.
Where once there was a distinction between Ødegaard, the leader by example, and Granit Xhaka, the leader by voice, having multiple players capable of marshalling a game has been key to Arsenal’s consistency.
Consistency was one of Rice’s biggest aims before this season.
In a pre-season interview, he admitted that the start of last season had been somewhat slow, with him finding his rhythm after the new year.
Rod management helped him recover his condition last season, and it’s continuing to help him remain one of Arsenal’s most consistent performers this year.
But like his previous seasons at Arsenal, there is no time to stand still.
When asked at his press conference ahead of Chelsea whether the current Rice was the best version he’d expected, Arteta replied:
“Maybe one or two years ago. But now, spending time with him every day, understanding him more deeply, connecting with him, we’re seeing much more. He wants more, the team knows him better, his role in the team keeps growing. The impact he has on the team is huge.”
The Arsenal manager could not pinpoint the exact moment he first felt that, but to those who had followed Arsenal closely, the signs were evident in Rice’s first couple of England displays.
The first was a pre-season friendly against Monaco at Emirates Stadium.
That night, he was a standout presence in midfield, his two explosive carries forward that evening feeling like ‘something different’.
The second was the Community Shield against Manchester City the following week. His anticipation and vast coverage playing a box-to-box role, and pressing Rodri and Bernardo Silva intensely, immediately showed the new dimensions he would bring to Arsenal.
More subtly, his desire has surfaced recently.
At Brentford, the ‘long throw’ has become a league talking point this season, due to Michael Olise’s possession of the league’s best.
Rice has also attempted long throws for Arsenal, though none with the same threat as Olise.
When this was put to Arteta in his pre-match interview, he responded:
“Who can do it like Olise?! Everything has to evolve. I don’t know what he was three, four, five years ago, but I know how good Declan was at set-pieces three, four years ago, and I know how good he is now. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes training, development, refinement. And above all, the player has to believe in it, and that’s the key. Declan is capable of anything he wants. He’s a player who can do almost everything that is asked of him.”
Arteta’s focus is not on turning Rice into ‘Arsenal’s Olise,’ but rather evolving him into Arsenal’s midfield ‘Mr. Everything,’ a player capable of fulfilling every role, both in open play and from set-pieces.
Rice has added more elements to his game every single year.
This has been pivotal to Arsenal’s rise to a new level, even if Premier League glory has yet to materialise.
That transformation will require the theme of continuous evolution to persist going forwards.
And fortunately, Rice shows no signs of standing still.
이런 건 하루아침에 되는 게 아닙니다. 훈련하고, 발전시키고, 다듬어야 하죠. 그리고 무엇보다 선수 자신이 믿어야 합니다. 그게 핵심입니다.
“데클란은 마음만 먹으면 무엇이든 될 수 있어요. 그에게 요구되는 것은 거의 뭐든지 해낼 수 있는 선수입니다.”
아르테타의 관심은 라이스를 ‘아스날의 카요데’로 만드는 것이 아니라, 그를 아스날의 미드필드 ‘액션맨’, 즉 오픈 플레이와 세트피스 모두에서 모든 역할을 해낼 수 있는 Mr. Everything으로 발전시키는 데 있다.
라이스는 매해 자신의 경기에 더 많은 요소를 더해왔다.
이는 프리미어리그 우승이 아직 이루어지지 않았더라도 아스날이 새로운 수준으로 올라가는 데 핵심적인 역할을 했다.
그 변화가 이루어지기 위해서는 지속적인 진화라는 주제가 앞으로도 계속되어야 한다.
그리고 다행히도, 라이스는 멈출 생각이 전혀 없어 보인다.
"Fans are hyping up Rice's insane versatility and leadership, comparing him to Gerrard and even Spider-Man's Black Suit. Some just want him to stay healthy and keep balling!"
#FunNo comments yet.