Declan Rice’s post-game interview from West Ham’s 3-1 loss to Arsenal in the Premier League last year has resurfaced.
The English midfielder is about to join Arsenal after the Gunners and West Ham agreed on a £105 million transfer fee.
Rice is now allowed to talk about personal terms with the north London club, even if the specifics of the agreement are still being worked out.
Arsenal’s previous transfer record, the £72 million they paid Lille for Nicolas Pepe in 2019, has been shattered by the Gunners’ offer, which is broken down as a £100 million base fee plus £5 million in performance-related add-ons.
Despite interest from the reigning champions of the Premier League, Manchester City, it has been generally stated that Rice always preferred to join Mikel Arteta’s team.
In fact, the respect the 24-year-old has for the north London team is clear in his post-match interview following Arsenal’s 3-1 Boxing Day victory over the Hammers in 2016.
At the Emirates Stadium last season, Said Benrahma’s penalty gave West Ham a lead at the half. However, goals from Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, and Eddie Nketiah extended Arsenal’s lead at the top.
And a dejected Rice was all love for Arsenal in his post-game interview, saying that they could compete with City for the Premier League crown.
Rice remarked in an interview with Amazon Prime: “It’s a tough one because in the first half, even though we didn’t have much of the ball, we defended really well, stopped them really well, and had a lot of opportunities to score.”
They were effectively halted, the team had a strategy, and they won 1-0.
But, especially when playing a side like Arsenal, you can’t keep up that for 90 minutes. When you play a team like Man City, it’s the same. Ultimately, one of their chances will result in anything, and their fluid football was successful.
We were unable to ascend the pitch, Rice continued. They covered the entire field with us.
The midfielder said, when asked if he thought Arsenal had a chance to win the title, “100%. They are a great squad in my opinion, and it is obvious how effectively they are coached.
They have a lot of attacking talent, a young squad, they could go the whole way for sure. They’re a good team but, like I said, first half we tried as hard as we could to stop them but it’s really hard.
“In the end, we came up short and it’s frustrating.”
