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Declan Rice has been extremely forthright in his appraisal of life at Arsenal as opposed to West Ham in a major interview with Sky Sports.
The 24 year old’s development at West Ham is well known but he has now chosen to make comparisons between the two clubs and it doesn’t make the best reading for manager David Moyes or the fans.
There were suggestions at West Ham that Declan had called a team meeting in which the squad decided to change the Moyes approach during the game against Nottingham Forest.
And in the interview with Sky and his thoughts on Mikel Arteta he is now indicating that the Arsenal manager runs an entirely different winning approach which is what happened in the defeat of Forest.
He makes no direct comparison between Moyes and the Arsenal boss but sadly it isn’t too difficult to read between the lines as he explains what he has found in his new boss.
He said: “Honestly, from the first moment that I walked through the training ground doors, it was not only the manager, all of the staff, their mindset and mentality is just about winning.
“From the physios to the chefs, to the analysts, everyone behind the scenes, it’s all on that focus of being the best you can be pushing yourself every day to become better, a better person and a better player.
“And I think Mikel, I think that’s exactly how he is. As well as a football coach, psychologically, he’s amazing and he really makes you wanna play for him, which is a massive reason why I’ve come to Arsenal.
Asked about the differences between the two clubs from a player’s point of view he said: “Yes, it’s crazy. It’s honestly crazy I’m already seeing football in a completely different way.
You think you know football growing up and when you play, but when you meet managers like Mikel, you realise you don’t really know anything about football. There are different styles and different ways of playing that I’ve never experienced before.
“Of course, the way I played at West Ham is completely different to the way Mikel plays, so it’s going to take some time to adapt. But I’m really eager to learn to improve, to ask questions, to do one-to-one training to improve and try and get it as quickly as possible.”
