Declan Rice admits there was a period when he was a slave to his price tag. “You’re a human being bought for £105m, it doesn’t feel very normal,” he said. “When the transfer was going through I was very nervous because of the price tag.
“It’s natural to think about that… But that was because of what I’d done at West Ham, what they valued me at. So when I signed for Arsenal, I just thought I just need to be Declan Rice, be myself, don’t be any different, everything will go smoothly.
“The first three weeks of pre-season were really tough in terms of the change. When you’re at a new job you start to feel really settled after a few weeks. That really feels the case now. In terms of the price tag, I don’t really think about it, I just play the games and try to play as well as possible.”
Jack Grealish is another who has spoken of the problem. In contrast to the Manchester City player, who struggled in his first season at the Etihad, Rice has hit the floor running (and running) at Arsenal. “I want to re-pay the club back straight away, they have invested a lot of money in me, I need to prove why I can go there and change things,” Rice said.
“I can see why Jack struggled maybe at the start – mentally. He was a £100m footballer but as he wasn’t playing as much, it was probably a bit different for him. Now he’s flying and it’s the same for me. It’s £100m, it’s a lot of money, I could understand the pressure that comes with it. Not only the pressure you put on yourself but there’s an expectation of being bought for that much money we need to see performances straight away.”
In the austere confines of one of the treatment rooms near England’s main dressing room in the Tose Proeski Arena, it really does seem an incomprehensible amount of money. Weirdly, though, for all the glamour of the big money and the big stages, deep down Rice genuinely seems to prefer to keep it a little bit more real.
“I actually love playing in these types of environments,” he said. “As a footballer, you grow up watching the top teams back in the day play big nights in big stadiums. But I love playing away from home just in general, to be honest. I don’t know why, playing in front of a different set of fans — just that feeling of if you win on an away day that feeling you get is really special.
“Honestly, I just try to play my football. I don’t let any of it all affect me in any way, shape or form. I just go to training, try to train as well as possible and, if I have a bad game, in two or three days I’ve got another game to put it right.”
Monday night will be match number 48 in an England shirt and takes him past Trevor Brooking with Sir Geoff Hurst just one in front of him. “You can see what it means as I am a bit speechless to be honest,” said Rice, who will always be a product of that West Ham academy.
“World Cup winners, legends of the game. People who will be remembered forever. I need to keep working, but those England caps are really special. They are the pinnacle and when I get to 50, I am going to aim for 100.”
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