The Gunners midfielder stated that Oleksandr Zinchenko called him a "horse man" because of his galloping-like running style. The 26-year-old said the whole thing is "so funny" and now that horse nickname has stuck at the club.
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WHAT DECLAN RICE SAID
He said on the England Generations podcast: "Iâve never had a nickname until I went to Arsenal. Everyone at Arsenal calls me horse. In the morning, even the nutritionist says âmorning horseâ. Zinchenko started it all. He just started it off. He says âyou are a horse manâ. He was like âyou run like a horse back and forthâ. I was like âokay, fair enoughâ. Then Jorginho started it. It was so funny, I had a notification on Instagram the other day where Zinchenko sent me a video and I was like âwhat is that?â. He sent me this video of a horse running on a beach and was like âthis is youâ. Mate, itâs so random.â
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Rice swapped West Ham for Arsenal in the summer of 2023 for a fee worth up to ÂŁ105 million ($136m). While that is a huge figure, the England international has arguably justified that amount off the back of his stellar performances. It appears he has the affection of many at Arsenal as well, going by this nickname.
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WHAT NEXT?
Rice will return to Arsenal next week but before then he could feature for England in their World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia on Friday and Monday respectively.