Arsenal have sought to improve their squad's physicality over recent years to the extent that when opting not to pursue one prominent target last summer, sources say a senior executive explained the decision internally by claiming that "we would break him."
Mikel Arteta is one of the most demanding managers in the modern game and not every player can cope. Durability is high on the list of characteristics the Gunners look for in potential signings these days, and the club went on to acquire a different player in that position more in line with this profile.
Last season tested Arsenal to the limit. A combination of injuries, Arteta's reluctance to rotate, and the psychological demands of a 63-game season concluded with the agony of a UEFA Champions League final defeat, which followed the ecstasy of a first Premier League title win in 22 years.
Declan Rice played in 55 of them, starting 49. The midfielder is Arsenal's midfield heartbeat -- or the "lighthouse" as Arteta once put it -- and now occupies the same importance for England, having been promoted to vice-captain by Thomas Tuchel.
Rice played 69 games for club and country last season. His total of 5,482 minutes was surpassed in Europe's top five leagues by just two players: Manchester City defender Marc Guéhi and Athletic Club goalkeeper Unai Simón.
Only Morgan Rogers (71) played more games -- and it is no coincidence that Arsenal were seriously interested in him, too, before Chelsea opted to pay the £117 million to sign him, which the Gunners baulked at for months.
Rice's workload is immense, so much so that he is one of the few players sitting at the apex of the ongoing debate over player welfare. Is this really sustainable? Could Arsenal end up "breaking" a player as palpably resilient as Rice?
Sunday's Community Shield was already heading firmly in Arsenal's favor when Rice was introduced as a halftime substitute. The 27-year-old has only returned to pre-season training a week earlier, but sources have told ESPN that Arteta was particularly impressed with the conditioning work he had maintained during his post-World Cup break.
Many of his England teammates were also back in action. Elliot Anderson made his debut for City alongside Nico O'Reilly, while Noni Madueke started for Arsenal with Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze both second-half substitutes.
But Rice played more minutes at the World Cup (558) than that quintet (aside from Anderson), and he was carrying a fitness issue throughout the tournament, which was later revealed to have begun around Christmas 2025.
So does Arteta really think he can play 69 games again?
"Well, he's done it previously," the Arsenal boss said on Sunday. "The last two or three seasons he's done something very similar to that, so he's already done it. Hopefully he doesn't need to do it that consistently and focus more on the quality and the performance than the volume.
"But probably he will say the opposite; he will say that he wants to play 70 this year if he can, because he wants to go for everything." And on that point, of course, Arteta is right. Rice is precisely the sort of character who puts his body on the line time and time again.
It is a key reason why Arsenal spent £105m to sign him from West Ham United in 2023, with former technical director Edu Gaspar revealing to ESPN in May that his acquisition alone was viewed as a cornerstone of their five-point plan for success.
Sources describe him as a model professional away from the game -- he once claimed before the Euros in 2021 that he had never drunk a pint of beer in his life. Rice is known to have experimented with his diet, once regularly eating sea bass before games before switching that out in favor of honey pancakes.
It's also hard to overstate his robustness. According to Transfermarkt, since the beginning of the 2018-19 season, he has missed just 14 games in eight years through injury.
Arteta is also correct that Rice is used to such a workload. From June 2021 to June 2022, he played 68 games and later described the workload as "obscene" before adding: "Of course, at some point it might take its toll, but then it's down to you as the player to find that balance and to get back on track."
Rice played the most minutes of any player in Europe's top leagues in 2023-24, his first with Arsenal. He missed just three league games a year later.
When discussing the 2025-26 campaign during the World Cup in June, Rice told ITV: "It's an obscene amount of games," Rice said. "The schedule was crazy, but what can we do about it?"
There's that word "obscene" again. And there are signs it is finally having an impact on his body. Rice has been managing nerve pain in a hamstring which radiates into his lower back.
Rice reportedly required injections to help navigate the second half of last season but he insisted playing so regularly is his default setting.
"I love being durable," he continued. "I love having that rhythm of playing three games a week at club. I wouldn't like playing once a week, having to wait another week until the next matchday. I like to keep the momentum going and I've always been like that throughout my career. So, it's come natural to me."
He was substituted in three of England's eight World Cup matches, including at halftime of their quarterfinal against Norway, partly due to an illness that had left him bed-bound for three days prior to the game in Miami, played in sweltering humidity.
"In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it's where you play a 70‑minute match," said Rice of how he has tried to manage his fitness. "But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good."
After England beat France 6-4 on July 18 to finish the World Cup in third place, Rice said: "My body is physically done."
Rice's return at the Principality Stadium felt a little premature in this context, but Arteta's earlier answer about Rice focusing on quality hinted at the depth of options he has in midfield this year.
Part of the circumstances that led to Rice playing so much football and Martín Zubimendi appearing to run out of steam as the season wore on was Arteta's unwillingness to trust Christian Nørgaard.
Sources have told ESPN that the £10m signing from Brentford was a popular figure around the training ground and there were no questions about his professionalism but Arteta felt the 32-year-old did not deliver the level of control required from his midfielders.
Norgaard started just one Premier League game -- Arsenal's final day victory over Crystal Palace when the title was already secured -- and joined Everton in a £7m switch earlier this month.
The Gunners now have Bruno Guimarães instead, following his £75m arrival from Newcastle United. He started Sunday's win over City and given his vast experience in England, prominence with Brazil and age -- he turns 29 in November -- he is a "plug-and-play" signing desired by Arteta who will be relied upon much more than Nørgaard ever was.
Zubimendi ran out of steam to the extent that Rice reverted from the No. 8 role to a No. 6 towards the end of last season, but Arsenal now have three viable options in that position plus Myles Lewis-Skelly, who impressed against City and is giving off every sign of a player who wants to ignore transfer speculation and remain at the club.
With Martin Ødegaard showing signs of his vintage best alongside Eze and Mikel Merino also vying for inclusion, Arsenal's midfield suddenly looks incredibly strong. Merino has described it, somewhat excitedly, as the best in the world. No wonder Ethan Nwaneri is likely to go out on loan.
Arsenal have dramatically overhauled their medical department, with sources telling ESPN that Arteta's close confidante Joaquin Acedo is playing a prominent role in decision-making.
Perhaps those changes will help Arsenal avoid the injuries which undermined their efforts last season, making that title win so much harder.
But no matter the options available, Rice will once again play an integral part -- hopefully with the odd rest here and there, for his sake.