Declan Rice has revealed that Arsenal want him playing more as a No.6 this season, and he thinks it is his best position.
The 27-year-old opened up in a long interview with British GQ, published on Monday for its Men of the Year issue. He spoke about the deeper role, how long it took him to understand Mikel Arteta, why he walked away from X three years ago and how he feels about the money in the game.
It is a rare look at how the title winners’ engine room actually works, and at the player sitting at the base of it.
What did Declan Rice say about playing as a No.6?
Last season Declan Rice spent more of his time as a No.8, getting forward and arriving in the box. Now he has been told he will play more as a No.6, sitting deeper, and he told GQ it is his best position and one he is enjoying more and more.
Asked whether that meant less galloping around the pitch, he did not hesitate. “Yeah, 100 per cent,” Rice said. “It’s not just about running around physically. It’s also tiring on the mind. I’m coaching on the pitch, as well as playing. So it’s two things in one.”
That last line is the interesting one for Gooners. Rice is no longer just the legs in midfield. He is the one organising the shape in front of the back four, and Arteta clearly trusts him to do it.
Why does the deeper role suit him?
Rice is not short of a gallop. He played 69 games for club and country last season, and in 2019/20 at West Ham he played every minute of every Premier League game. But a No.6 who reads the game well saves his legs for the moments that matter, and that is exactly the balance he described.
It also fits what we have seen this season. His all-round game has been a big talking point already, as we looked at when comparing him with Sandro Tonali and Moises Caicedo, but the GQ interview is the first time he has spelled out the change in his own words.
‘It took me about a year’: inside Arteta’s detail
Rice admitted the tactical side of his game took time. “I think now I fully understand his game plan,” he said of Arteta. “It took me about a year.”
Things were very different at West Ham. “I kind of just done what I wanted,” he said. “It was freestyle, you know.”
Under Arteta, every position, movement and pass has a purpose. When Christian Nørgaard arrived from Brentford, Rice could see he was struggling to adjust and told him: “You’re not going to grasp this for like six, seven months.” Nørgaard had years of Premier League experience, but that counted for little.
“With our manager, he doesn’t care who you are. You’re getting detail. You’re going into the game knowing everything,” Rice said. The goalkeepers get it worst of all. “Arteta goes crazy about the goalkeepers. Because the goalkeeper is, for us, one of the main positions on the pitch.” On current form, David Raya chasing Petr Cech’s clean sheet record suggests the detail is paying off.
Formula 1 cars and three-week summers
Arteta’s attention goes beyond tactics. Rice said the manager compares his players to Formula 1 cars, asking how the car can go faster, and extra weight slows it down. “I’ve never seen a group of lads come back in better condition,” Rice said of pre-season, adding that anyone above about 10 per cent body fat would raise eyebrows and a few players are below five.
The rest is not exactly generous either. “My last six summers, max, I’ve had three weeks off,” he said.
Why Rice quit X
Rice also explained why he left Twitter, now X, three years ago. “I’ve not been back on the app since,” he said. “You could be having a great morning. You read one thing, and it just ruins your whole day. I feel like that’s one of my strongest points… the ability to block out noise and not deal with that kind of stuff.”
He laughed when asked to check his screen time, which came out at 40 hours over the past week, but he is worried about younger fans. “I think social media for kids is 100 per cent a problem,” he said.
That attitude runs through the rest of the interview. “If you think I’m good, good. If you think I’m s***, all right. But eventually I’ll prove you wrong,” was how he summed up his view of outside opinion.
‘Ridiculous’ money and a new contract
The money in the game came up too. “The money that’s in football as a whole is just ridiculous,” Rice said, adding that he wants to teach his child the value of money and that being rich is “not the end goal.” GQ noted that reports since the interview have him close to agreeing a new Arsenal contract worth around £350,000 a week, though nothing has been announced yet.
Ian Wright: top three in the world
Arsenal legend Ian Wright, also speaking to GQ, was not holding back. “There’s no other midfielder like him in this country,” Wright said. “Without a shadow of a doubt. Top three midfielders in the world.” He called Rice “a bit of a throwback player in the way his engine is.”
Verdict: the No.6 move makes Rice even more important
There is a lot of glossy stuff in a GQ cover story, but the football bit is what matters. Rice moving deeper is not a demotion. It is Arteta handing the title winners’ best midfielder the job of running the team from the base, both with the ball and with his voice.
The Champions League is the one thing still missing after last season’s final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, and Rice said he gets “fuelled by the big matches.” If he can bring that No.6 control to the big European nights, Arsenal will be very hard to stop.
