Mikel Arteta believes there is more to come from Declan Rice after the Arsenal midfielder finished as runner-up in the FWA Footballer of the Year vote.
Rice finished behind Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden in the vote for the Premier League’s finest performer this season, following a standout debut campaign with the Gunners.
Arsenal broke their transfer record to sign Rice in a £105m deal from West Ham last summer and the 25-year-old has become an important part of the club’s title challenge.
Rice has six goals and seven assists in the Premier League this season, each career-best numbers from a player who has shown a more attack-minded side to his game in an Arsenal shirt.
Arteta has been delighted with the impact of the summer signing but believes there is still more to come from the England international.
“It’s been great, he’s had such an impact since day one,” Arteta said at his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Bournemouth this weekend.
“It’s a great group, I think they’ve been really, really supportive. After eight/nine days in pre-season, he said he’d felt like he’d been here for three years.
He is really enthusiastic, eyes open, ears open, ready to take the information. That’s a difficult badge to carry and he’s done it in a very impressive way because he’s still a very young player.
“I think there is much more there,” he continued on whether Rice can add more goals to his game.
“We need to put him into more situations where he can exploit that situation more. All of this will contribute to his development more.”
