RICE WORK, DEC Sales boom after £105m signing
Midfielder Declan Rice
BEN TURNER
ARSENAL fans are snapping up £107 Declan Rice shirts, just a day after his record £105million transfer was confirmed.
The North London side is already making thousands of pounds in online sales from shirts showing the midfielder’s name and squad number.
Rice, 24, said it was an “absolute privilege” to join Arsenal, second in last season’s Premier League, from West Ham, where he played for eight years.
Rice, now with 43 England caps, grew up in West London and started at Chelsea but was dropped at 14.
He lives in a £2.6m pad in Surrey, just south of the capital, with childhood sweetheart Lauren Fryer, 24, and their 11-month-old son Jude.
The player’s pre-match ritual includes eating sea bass and rice and styling his quiff 20 minutes before kickoff. Away from the game, he plays golf
LANKY the Giraffe had a cricket crowd in stitches as he won an obstacle race by more than a neck. The Lancashire mascot legged it around the course at with a 12 handicap, pool, and Playstation, with Fifa being his top choice. He also loves chewy sweets, calling himself as “an experienced Skittle eater”.
Rice told Arsenal’s website: “I’m hungry, I’m ready and I’m going to give everything for this club like I do week in, week out.” He is the most expensive English player ever – surpassing the £100m paid for Jack Grealish in 2021.
Edgbaston, Birmingham, on T20 Blast Finals day. Even Derbyshire’s Freddie the Falcon and Leicestershire’s Charlie Fox could not get close.
IN THE NETS Creatures caught out in obstacle race