‘I f***ing begged Rice to join Arsenal’

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 16 Jul 2023 20:19 BST
• 3 min read

Arsenal legend Ian Wright has revealed that he begged Declan Rice to join the club a few months ago, joking that he “tapped up” the former West Ham star.

Rice finally completed his Arsenal club record transfer from West Ham this weekend.

The Gunners paid £100 million plus £5m in add-ons to take the England international to the Emirates.

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Arsenal had been working on signing Rice for several months - and it seems as if Wright played a role in getting the deal done.

The former striker - who scored 185 goals for Arsenal between 1991 and 1998 - has revealed he begged Rice to join back in March.

The incident occurred when Wright visited the England national team camp ahead of their Euro 2024 qualifier in Italy.

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What did Ian Wright say about Declan Rice?

“Everyone was saying about when I went to the England squad, I was tapping him up,” he said on Wrighty’s House show.

“Yes I f*****g was. Literally, I was begging him!”

“I don’t work for the club, I’m an Arsenal fan.“I said, ‘Look at you and Saka, how cool you look good together’. It's just excitement, I can’t tell you how much I’m excited.”

Rice ended up scoring in a 2-1 win for England against Italy.

He finished the season strongly for West Ham as they avoided relegation before winning the UEFA Europe Conference League.

Arsenal beat Manchester City to the signing of Rice, with the treble winners opting not to match the Gunners’ final transfer fee for the 24-year-old star.

Bayern Munich pulled out of the race earlier in the summer, while Chelsea and Manchester United were also heavily interested.