Declan Rice with football freestylers is blowing everyone's minds | OneFootball

Amid Declan Rice’s club-record £105 million move to Arsenal, clips of a video featuring the midfielder and the former F2 Freestylers has resurfaced.

Play Video

The clip from three years ago shows the Three Lions star with insane first touches and long-ball accuracy using both feet. His talent even led social media star Jeremy Lynch to call him “one of the best players we’ve ever filmed with,” and they’ve filmed with the likes of Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr.

Declan Rice's career so far

In what turned out to be his last game for the club, the former West Ham captain led his team to glory in the Europa Conference League, securing the Hammers’ first trophy in 43 years after a 2-1 win vs ACF Fiorentina in Prague.

Fast forward to now and Declan Rice is set to become a Gunner after they pipped rivals Manchester City to his signature.

The 24-year-old midfielder joins Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber as a trio of Arsenal incomings as they prepare to bolster their squad in hopes of taking another Premier League title challenge to Manchester City.

Arsenal have had some midfield outgoings themselves after former club captain Granit Xhaka departed for German side Bayer Leverkusen, and speculation that Thomas Partey could follow suit, paving the way for Rice to make an immediate impact from the start.

The midfielder spent his youth career with Chelsea before being released at 14 years old. He then joined West Ham’s youth set-up before receiving his first call-up to the senior side in April 2017, making his full senior debut against Southampton the following August.

Since then, per WhoScored, Rice has made 190 Premier League appearances for the Hammers, scoring 10 goals and providing 10 assists. Last season he had a pass success percentage of 88.0% and a rating of 7.01. He also completed the most interceptions in the league with 63, showing his elite defensive talent.

Although he plays as a defensive midfielder, his versatile skill set means that he is considered as a deep-lying yet prolific playmaker who possesses an incredible range of progressive passing ability.

According to GOAL, during the 2021-22 Premier League campaign, Rice averaged an incredible 7.25 progressive passes, while also registering 1.13 progressive carries on the ball (dribbles over 10+ yards) per 90 minutes.

Declan Rice with F2

A recently resurfaced video clip from Declan Rice’s appearance on the F2 Freestylers’ YouTube channel has shown that Arsenal will be receiving more than just a defensive midfielder.

In the clips posted on Twitter, the £105 million star, who was only 20 years old at the time, shows off his impressive first touch of the ball, as well as pinpoint accuracy with a long-range pass into a training net.

Perhaps what was most impressive was his remarkable ability to strike the ball at goal with accuracy and power using both feet, and this is what has Arsenal fans excited.

“Declan Rice, I was not familiar with your tekkers," wrote one fan on Twitter, while another commented: 'Wow, I didn't know Declan Rice was technically gifted like that.”

It appears that many people are now coming to the realisation of the skill set he possesses over recent debate over whether the star is in fact worth over £100 million, or whether it was just hype and ‘home-grown player tax.’

“This is actually so filthy,” another fan wrote on social media, while another supported the view and commented: “Oh s**t I didn’t realise he was like that.”