Speaking to The Times about how he felt to be signed for a whopping £105m by Arsenal in the summer, Declan Rice said: “When the transfer was going through I was very nervous because of the price tag.
“It’s natural to think about that. You’re a human being bought for £105 million, it doesn’t feel very normal. But that was because of what I’d done at West Ham, what they valued me at.
“When I signed for Arsenal, I 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.”
He also opened up about how his value compares to the £100m Man City paid to sign Jack Grealish, adding: “It’s £100 million, 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.
“I want to repay 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. I can see why Jack struggled maybe at the start — mentally.
"He was a £100 million 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.”
Rice has definitely proved himself to be worth the money that Arsenal spent on him, as he has been flying high on momentum from the start of the season and constantly churned out top quality performances to keep his side in the Premier League title race.
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