“We have him half the price,” sings the Arsenal fans about Declan Rice, their £ 105 million bargain. They may just have a point. Rice's versions against Real Madrid have confirmed his place under the elite.
“He is definitely in the draw,” said his manager, Mikel Arteta, after the striking role of the midfielder in the impressive quarter -final triumph of Arsenal.
It was his fantastic free kicks last week at the Emirates who set Arsenal on the way to the last four. It was his leadership that saw them navigate through the intensity of the Bernabeu on Wednesday.
Last week will fall as a coming-of-age moment for the 26-year-old. His talent, drive and authority on the field have long been celebrated – hence the enormous compensation that Arsenal West Ham paid for him in 2023. But his all -round game has gone to another level since that switch and still seems to be a quick turnout.
“I knew that when I signed that this club was an upward route,” Rice said after his central role in the 5-1 aggregated victory. The decision makers of Arsenal thought about him in the same way.
“This club will do a number of special things in the coming years,” added the man who will be the core of that success.
With the hype of a Remontada performed by all connected to Real Madrid, Arsenal was confronted with a huge character test in the Spanish capital. Rice took on the challenge.
He had the most touches of every Arsenal player. The most accurate passes. Most interceptions. The joint tackles. The joint opportunities created.
This was the do-it-all midfielder who did it from box-to-box on the big stage.
His current battle with Jude Bellingham was fierce, fiery and perhaps vital for the competition as a whole. The two England force patches stacked themselves into their heads in the middle of the Bernabeu.
The scrap brought them to the sidelines, where they confused at some point and looked like they could come up. Instead, they turned away, ready to go again. Two gladiators in the house of the Galacticos. Not long afterwards, Rice Bellingham in the Arsenal box and sliding in – precision in the midst of the chaos of this collision.
The sight of rice that breaks the ball at his feet through midfield becomes a friend. It was his drive that led to Arsenal's goal in the Premier League on the weekend. Kylian Mbappe turned a single and tried to stop a similar increase. As Real Madrid discovered, this is a player who is difficult to keep.
Of course, the two had met each other in an important moment in playing, when Mbappe went down fairly when Rice marked him from a free kick. There was panic and disbelief on Rice's face when he protested against his innocence. A VAR control eventually led to a rightful delay. But it was a memory that Arsenal Street-Smart had to be against the title holders.
When Thomas Peny fell into trouble, the excuser Antonio Rudiger pushed and earned a yellow that will hang him hanging for the first stage of the Semi, barking rice in his midfield colleague to sharpen himself. It was a demonstration of the demands he sets the people around him.
It is not just what rice does in or out. The intangible assets increase its value for this group. Arteta praised the tone he had set around the camp during the structure and in the heat of the moment. He is the standard setter from Arsenal.
“He lifted the team in many moments and turned the game in our favor, and that is what you need, players to perform and have a big contribution,” said his head coach.
How much is a player who can do that worth it? Priceless.