Declan Rice reveals embarrassing sticker Mikel Arteta made him wear on first day at Arsenal after completing £105m transfer

The England international, following several windows of speculation regarding his future, completed a £105 million ($131m) move to Emirates Stadium from West Ham over the summer. He has settled quickly in new surroundings, with the Gunners allowing him to step out of an established holding midfield role.

There are plenty of familiar faces helping Rice to settle in new surroundings, but the 24-year-old is getting no special treatment. He may be Arsenal’s record signing, with a lucrative contract committed to, but he was still inducted like any other new recruit when walking through the doors in north London.

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.”

Rice has played every minute of Arsenal’s four Premier League games in 2023-24, helping them to collect 10 points, and will be hoping to make his Champions League debut when the Gunners return to elite European competition against PSV on September 20.