Arsene gotten into the final details of signing Declan Rice as confirmed by Fabriazo who Arsene Wenger considered as the best player on the pitch then.
“It was early one afternoon in September 2015 and Arsene Wenger was standing next to one of the stands at the Arsenal training ground watching the match of his U-18 Team West Ham, when after 20 minutes he decided that he had seen enough. During his departure, he turned to one of the members of his coaching staff and noted that the best player on the field was Declan Rice – a 16-year-old center-back. Wenger left no doubt that he was a real talent “
From an article from the London Evening Standard from 2019