Kieran Tierney admission after private Declan Rice chat sums up Arsenal stars
Arsenal defender Kieran Tierney has opened up on a conversation with club-record signing Declan Rice that shows how high morale is within the Gunners dressing room.
The Scotland international has struggled for game time at the Emirates recently, spending much of last season playing second-fiddle to Arsenal's first-choice left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko. Mikel Arteta's side now boast the kind of depth they have lacked in previous years and are aiming to go one better than last term's second place finish and win the Premier League in 2023-24.
The Gunners have spent north of £200m on Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber to bolster their ranks, with £105m of that figure being spent to land Rice from West Ham.
And the England star is wasting no time in adjusting to life at Arsenal following his switch from the London Stadium, with Tierney explaining just how comfortable the new boy already is in his new surroundings.
Speaking to the Athletic, Tierney revealed: "Declan actually said the other day he feels like he's been so long. It's such a close group, great team-mates, great staff so I think they're all loving it [the new signings]."
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Spirits are high among the current group of Gunners - despite their pre-season defeat to Manchester United - with the target this season to win the Premier League. And certainly the impression is that Arteta has put together a group who enjoy playing with one another, and who are comfortable demanding more from their teammates.
Kieran Tierney has opened up on discussions with Arsenal new-boy Declan RiceMirror Football is now on Threads! You can follow us here.
When Havertz was announced as a new addition, the German cited Arsenal's family feel as a reason behind why he was so keen to join.
"I think the family mentality that the team has on the pitch is one of the reasons why it so hard to play against Arsenal," he said explained.
"I guess they have it off the pitch as well. So the team mentality in the squad is very, very high and you can feel that. Obviously there's so many talented players and there’s big room to achieve big things as well."
Tierney's future has been in question, with the defender the subject of links to Newcastle United earlier on in the summer window. On the speculation, Tierney added: "It’s not really up to me (my future). I’m happy, I’m working hard every day and getting minutes. I’m just trying to do as well as I can.
"You can’t play every single game, every single season, every single year. I don’t expect that and I still made a lot of appearances last year. I was ready every game and working 100 per cent.
"I think everyone in there would agree with that, that I never give less than that whether I’m playing or not."
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