Declan Rice breaks silence on angry altercation with Arsenal teammate Eddie Nketiah

Arsenal’s marquee signing Declan Rice opened up about a past on-pitch altercation with Eddie Nketiah.

On Saturday Arsenal confirmed the signing of Declan Rice from West Ham for £100million plus £5million in add-ons.

The England international put pen to paper on a five-year contract with the Gunners which has the option of a further year.

"I've been looking at Arsenal over the last couple of seasons and the trajectory they've been on," he said upon his unveiling.

"Not last season but the season before, they [only] finished fifth, but you could see the style of play Mikel was implementing. Last season was an outstanding season, blowing pretty much every team out of the water with the exception of Manchester City."

Rice was also quick to address a past altercation he had with new team-mate Nketiah.

Rice sheds light on Nketiah altercation

Rice insisted there were no hard feelings between him and Nketiah, despite the pair having exchanged a fierce war of words in May 2022, when the former was playing for West Ham.

Speaking to the Arsenal website, Rice said: “I played with Eddie from under-nines to under-14s. We were both released on the same day and it’s crazy where football takes you, your journey.

“He’s made it through the ranks at Arsenal, I made it through the ranks at West Ham. Now we get to link back up again.

“I’ve always loved Eddie, even though we had that little altercation on the pitch before! I’ve always loved him and been close to his family.

“His dad is a top, top guy who used to come on all the tours with us as kids, so I’m really looking forward to seeing Eddie again and of course the other boys.”

Rice is Arsenal’s third major signing this summer, as the club looks to go one better than their second-place finish last term.

The former West Ham skipper follows the recruitment of Kai Havertz from Chelsea in a £65million deal and the arrival of Netherlands defender Jurrien Timber from Ajax for up to £38.5million.

Topics: Football, Transfers, Premier League, Eddie Nketiah, Arsenal, Declan Rice

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.