Declan Rice Arsenal moment speaks volumes as Bukayo Saka mocks transfer fee

Declan Rice has undoubtedly added an extra edge to Arsenal both defensively and in the attacking third. The Gunners won an intense transfer battle against Manchester City for his signature from West Ham last summer, parting ways with £105million in the process.

With the stunning move breaking the transfer record for an English player, previously held by Jack Grealish, reservations over the triple-figure price tag were prominent. Nonetheless, Arsenal certainly felt as though they had paid a suitable amount of money for a player that was going to take them to the next level, and he has done exactly that.

The England international's ability to break up play and drive forward in possession has been a huge attribute Arsenal have taken full advantage of with Rice often deployed in more advanced midfield positions. Because of that, Rice has subsequently contributed to 17 goals this season with his latest coming this past weekend.

Following on from Bukayo Saka's opener, Rice provided the pass that allowed Leandro Trossard to double Arsenal's advantage. Rice then got in on the action himself deep into added time with a fierce close-range strike that flew through the legs of Mark Travers.

Understandably so, Rice was awarded player of the match before he took to social media in celebration of the victory. On Instagram, he wrote: "Good day at the office," Saka responded: "He’s only half price," accompanied with a musical note emoji.

Given how Rice has vastly improved Mikel Arteta's side, Saka's suggestion that he is worth closer to £200million certainly seems accurate with many Arsenal fans likely in agreement after what the midfielder did following his goal.

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As he wheeled away in celebration, Rice appear to take in all the emotions from those at Emirates Stadium before then reposting the image on his Instagram story. With Rice now on seven Premier League goals for the season, Arteta was asked if he was surprised by his contributions in front of goal.

"Yes. We thought that, that was going to be very related to the spaces he was going to occupy on the pitch," the Arsenal boss said; "But then it's something else to do it in this league. He's done it. Credit to him. Even when we've changed him from position to position, it's not easy to adapt to that, so I think he deserves a lot of credit for that."