James Maddison acknowledges Arsenal have signed a superstar in Declan Rice (Picture: Amazon Prime)
James Maddison admits he ‘hates’ the fact Arsenal won the race to sign Declan Rice from West Ham in the summer.
The Gunners obliterated their transfer record to sign the former Hammers’ skipper during the transfer window, spending an eye-watering £105million to beat the likes of Manchester City and Bayern Munich to Rice’s signature.
Rice has so far vindicated Mikel Arteta’s decision to push the boat out and has delivered a series of outstanding performances at the heart of Arsenal’s engine room.
Having played against him for a number of years in the Premier League, Maddison was well aware of Rice’s talents long before they became regular colleagues at international level.
Spending time with Rice at such close quarters, however, has helped Maddison realise just what a special talent the Arsenal star is, even if it is tough to see his England teammate thriving for Tottenham’s rivals.
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‘Yeah, (he’s got everything),’ Maddison told Amazon Primce. ‘He’s technically really, really good.
‘We do passing for England in training. He is a joke when it comes to low-cut passes, zingers. I think he’s a top, top player.
‘I hate that he plays for Arsenal.’
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Rice and Arsenal travel to Luton this evening looking for a win that would, temporarily at least, put them five points clear at the top of the table with Liverpool and Manchester City not in action until tomorrow night.
‘I think they are a really good team and probably the table does not reflect what they have done in many games,’ warned Arteta ahead of a game against a side who have won just once at home this season.
‘The way they have lost games or drew games as well in five minutes during the final stages of games. As I say, it probably doesn’t reflect that, but it’s a difficult game, that’s for sure.’
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‘He is a joke when it comes to low-cut passes!’