The trio cost more than \u00a3300 million ($397m) overall with each signed for a nine-figure fee and amongst the best players in the Premier League<\/a> this season.<\/p>\n Rice this week revealed he voted for Caicedo in his 2024-25 team of the year as debate over the better player rumbles on, but Arteta backed the England<\/a> international to go up another level despite an impressive level of consistency over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n – Arteta: Chelsea deserve to be in PL title race <\/a> Asked if this is the best version of Rice, Arteta said: “Probably a year or two ago, yes, but now being with him every single day, understanding and connecting with him in the way I have done, we are going to get more.<\/p>\n “Because he wants more, the team knows him better, his role is growing around the team. The impact he has on the team, it’s huge.<\/p>\n “I knew him for a long time [before signing] and I knew how he could evolve and change the team. He has certainly done it and probably improved on those expectations.”<\/p>\n Rice’s best work at West Ham occurred in a more deeper position in front of defence, but Arteta has unlocked new levels to his game in an advanced midfield role.<\/p>\n The long-serving Gunners head coach could not remember a specific fixture which convinced him to sign Rice, but always had his current position in mind.<\/p>\n “I would have to think about it but most of the time, if you have the option to see a player live and sense him, get that energy, presence and charisma, on top of his qualities, it’s something else,” Arteta reflected.<\/p>\n “Probably when he was around I said, ‘hmm, that’s a special player.’<\/p>\n “To be fair I had this one, I had another position that was a little bit further back to do something else and he can adapt to anything you throw at him.<\/p>\n “At the moment, that is what we were thinking, in front is probably much more positive for the team.”<\/p>\n Rice’s stature as a leader at Arsenal has grown in recent seasons and he has made clear his desire to lead the club to trophies.<\/p>\n Arteta added: “A huge amount. Obviously he was captain at West Ham. He comes here to a new club, a new environment and there were things already set, but he has earned the right to increase that role.<\/p>\n “To be more important, to be very present in everything we do, he’s in the leadership group, which is very important.<\/p>\n “He’s a real presence. He doesn’t need to wear the armband to feel really connected, really powerful and really important in the team.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nov 28, 2025, 05:39 PM ET Mikel Arteta believes there is more to come from Arsenal midfielder Declan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-320097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
– Maresca: Too early to tell if Chelsea can challenge Arsenal<\/a>
– Laurens’ weekend preview: Chelsea-Arsenal among highlights<\/a><\/p>\nDeclan Rice has been a key figure in Arsenal’s impressive season to date.\u00a0James Gill – Danehouse\/Getty Images<\/p>\n