Among the new signings, the purchase of Declan Rice from West Ham United for big money has got the fans the most excited.
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Arsenal and Manchester City will kickstart the new season with the traditional FA Community Shield on Sunday. They both had seasons to remember last time around. Arsenal outweighed expectations to mount an impressive Premier League title challenge last season. However, a late collapse saw the Gunners finish second in the standings. On the other hand, Manchester City ended the season on a best possible note, winning an unprecedented treble.
They had won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League trophies. With the new season set to begin, it will be interesting to see if other teams can end Man City’s dominance. Arsenal have so far done well in the transfer window to close the gap in terms of squad quality. Among the new signings, the purchase of Declan Rice from West Ham United for big money has got the fans the most excited.
Ahead of Sunday’s encounter, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was asked in his pre-match press conference how they managed to convince Rice to move to the Emirates Stadium. “We just explained our thoughts on him, the project we’re building, what his role was going to be in the club and in the team. We got into that very much on day one with him and his family as well, and we are delighted to have him,” Arteta was quoted as saying by arsenal.com.
Speaking about what he has learnt about the English midfielder till now, Arteta replied, “That he is a player that is already excellent, so we have to make sure that we don’t make him worse! We want him to put on the quality and abilities that he has and let him express his personality and the way he thinks about the game in the right way. If we can help him with a few things, that’s what we will try to do. We try to accommodate his qualities into the team to be better.”
Declan Rice continued to be a big part of the press conference as reporters kept fielding questions about him. Answering one such question, Arteta spoke glowingly about Rice’s leadership abilities. “His leadership skills are unquestionable. When you meet him and you spend the first five minutes with him, you get the feeling and impression that he’s someone who is going to help so much, with the dressing room and the approach that we want to take into games and have the initiative in our way of living. Things take time and they have to be natural, but if it has to happen, it will happen,” he explained.
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