A £105m RIP-OFF? NO, DEC'S PRICELESS

Gunners' genius worth his weight in goals and assists

- Andy Dunn

WITH financial regulations bringing a bit of sanity to the Premier League's transfer market, the days of paying in excess of £100million for a midfielder will not be returning any time soon.

Good. But you will not find an Arsenal supporter who believes a single penny of the £105m it cost to recruit Declan Rice from West Ham last summer was a wasted one.

Sure, it was an insane price, but Rice is a crazily effective footballer.

Ahead of Euro 2024 - and with the pair going head-to-head in the Champions League - a lot of English hopes are being pinned on Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham.

But, take Kane out of the equation, the player Gareth Southgate would surely consider the most important to his cause is Rice.

There is no individual in the middle of a Premier League park more dominant than Rice, no individual more influential in the vast area between the two penalty boxes. Once again here he was inspirational - a playbreaking six one minute, a play-making eight the next, a goalscoring nine the next.

And away from his unstinting physical contribution to Mikel Arteta's cause this season, he has brought an added dimension to this Arsenal unit's mindset.