{"id":328,"date":"2026-04-06T11:50:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/?p=328"},"modified":"2026-04-06T11:50:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:50:45","slug":"arsenal-doomed-to-trophyless-purgatory-when-they-signed-declan-rice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/?p=328","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal doomed to trophyless purgatory when they signed Declan Rice"},"content":{"rendered":"


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You\u2019ll have seen this tweet. It\u2019s possible you\u2019ve thought about this tweet while doing the washing up or dreamt about it during your deepest magnesium-fuelled REM sleep, such is its ubiquity.<\/p>\n

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WATCH: Declan Rice\u2019s first and last ever trophy won as a professional player. pic.twitter.com\/fML46xE5wk<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Central (@WestHam_Central) July 4, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Since the account \u2018West Ham Central\u2019 posted this message in July 2023, accompanied by Rice lifting the Conference League trophy, it has been viewed over 50million times on X.<\/p>\n

In almost three years since, it has acquired more depth than its initial bitterness and playground pettiness.<\/p>\n

It has become the internet equivalent of a gypsy\u2019s curse as Arsenal have seemingly developed an aversion to major silverware.<\/p>\n

Back in 2023, Rice was about to sign for the upwardly mobile Gunners in a \u00a3105million deal, a transfer that had been signposted for months beforehand.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d been a Rolls Royce midfielder at West Ham, head and shoulders above his team-mates in a very good side. Captaining them to a first (proper) trophy in 43 years was the perfect send-off.<\/p>\n

West Ham fans are renowned for holding a grudge \u2013 just ask \u2018Big Fat Frank\u2019 Lampard, Paul Ince or Jermain Defoe \u2013 but most understood Rice\u2019s desire to play on a bigger stage.<\/p>\n

But such was the faith in his talent that some Hammers supporters believed their star man could do better than Arsenal.<\/p>\n

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Treble-winning Manchester City had also submitted a bid and Rice would have slotted into their midfield alongside Rodri.<\/p>\n

Pep Guardiola would have relished the opportunity to refine such a fine player technically and tactically, as would the likes of Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.<\/p>\n

But Arsenal appeared a natural fit for Rice, a statement signing for a club poised to become perennial challengers for the Premier League title.<\/p>\n

The initial reaction to West Ham Central\u2019s tweet is a delight when viewed with the distance of time. Foaming Arsenal fans dismissing it with laughing emojis, hubristically claiming Rice would be the centrepiece of a trophy-guzzling dynasty.<\/p>\n

Checking the replies in April 2026 reveal a very different flavour. You\u2019d have got long odds on Arsenal being trophyless deep into Rice\u2019s third season at the Emirates.<\/p>\n

As it stands, Arsenal fans are lying low like a trench-raiding party in No Man\u2019s Land, while everyone else proclaims the poster as football\u2019s greatest visionary.<\/p>\n

\u201cGather here if you are here from the future,\u201d one typical reply reads. \u201cThe prophecy was foretold, no one believed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Timestamps reveal the post\u2019s durability, surfacing whenever Arsenal<\/strong> \u2013 or England<\/strong> \u2013 have fallen short of the finishing line<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

If Arsenal fail to win either the Premier League or Champions League in May, Mikel Arteta may need to channel the energy of Proper Football Man Barry Fry.<\/p>\n

In 1993, Fry became manager of Birmingham City and soon embarked on a 15-match winless run. He then learned of the 100-year-long curse alleged to have been put on St Andrew\u2019s when the club moved there in 1906.<\/p>\n

Dispensing with logic due to desperation, or simply figuring he had nothing to lose, Fry proceeded to urinate on all four corners of the pitch having been told this would break the curse.<\/p>\n

Birmingham went on to win seven of their next 10 matches, with their manager presumably loading up on four-leaf clovers and rabbit\u2019s feet with each victory.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not sure what the internet equivalent would be. Some Arsenal fans are attempting to have the tweet removed due to copyright infringement, despite the clip coming from CBS Golazo, but screenshots would ensure its longevity.<\/p>\n

Perhaps gutting the internet or simply travelling to X\u2019s offices in San Francisco and p*ssing all over Elon Musk\u2019s routers will do the trick.<\/p>\n

The less radical option will be crossing all fingers and toes in the hope Arsenal get a grip. Or hope Arteta loosens his, encouraging some attacking ingenuity instead of the current self-defeating rigidity.<\/p>\n

A word of caution though: Fry\u2019s Birmingham were relegated at the end of the 1993\/94 season. Curses are contrary by their very nature.<\/p>\n

Even if Arsenal end their six-year trophy drought in May, this post already belongs in a museum as a pinprick to online hubris.<\/p>\n

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