Following months of speculation regarding his future, the England international signed a £105 million ($131 million) transfer from West Ham to Emirates Stadium this summer. He has quickly adapted to his new surroundings, with the Gunners allowing him to shift away from his typical holding midfield position.

Rice is getting aid from many familiar friends as he adjusts to his new situation, but the 24-year-old is not being treated differently. He may be Arsenal’s record signing, with a rich deal, but when he stepped through the doors in north London, he was handled just like any other new recruit. 

Rice has told the Tubes and Ange Gold Life channel on YouTube of his early experience at Arsenal: “I was a bit nervous. The first day I was down there on the Sunday, the lads weren’t in but I come out of the physio room and Arteta, just like little things he does, he put like a sticker on me saying ‘hello, I’m the new person’. He just walked in and put it on my chest. All the 18s and 21s in the canteen and I’m walking through trying to hide my chest. Just little things like that.”

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WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Rice has played every minute of Arsenal’s four Premier League games in 2023-24, scoring ten points, and will want to make his Champions League debut against PSV on September 20.