Declan Rice has poked fun at the fact he has already lost his title as the Premier League’s most expensive player of the summer to Chelsea’s £115million man Moises Caicedo.
When the Ecuadorian’s record move – which eclipsed his own price tag – was brought up, Rice burst out laughing and told Sky Sports: “I had it up on the wall for two weeks! It’s come down already!”
While Caicedo had a horror debut, giving away a late penalty against Rice’s old club West Ham on Sunday, Rice was in fine form against Crystal Palace.
He continued: “Before the game tonight, I was on the way to the game and I just thought, ‘Just go out there and have it tonight, try and put on a show’.
“Even in the warm up I just felt an energy that I wanted to go out there and perform. I was just really up for it, to be honest with you.
“Only two games in, obviously there’s so much talk about the price tag and me playing for Arsenal, and I want to keep proving people wrong, keep proving that I can play at the top and keep putting in top performances.
“So I’ll keep my feet on the ground, keep listening to everyone around me, and keep pushing.’
The Gunners agreed a £105m deal with West Ham for Mount just over a month ago, with the fee representing a club-record deal while the total package will exceed the British-record £100m Manchester City spent on Jack Grealish if various add-ons are achieved.
But, having already spent £107m on Enzo Fernandez in January, Chelsea one-upped Arsenal by finally prising Caicedo away from Brighton last week, beating off competition from Liverpool to secure a £115m deal – which sets a new Premier League transfer record.
