Philippe Senderos full of praise for Arsenal legend Pat Rice who helped the defender settle into the English game

Senderos joined Arsenal in 2003 and won the FA Cup before moving to Fulham in 2010.

The Swiss international - who played at three World Cups - spoke to the media after attending an IFA coaching course last week and commented on his relationship with Belfast-born Rice, who was assistant manager under Arsene Wenger.

The 38-year-old, who also played for AC Milan, Rangers and Everton in his career, also commented on Mikel Arteta's impact as Arsenal secured a return back to Champions League football.

“Pat Rice was very important at Arsenal at that time," he said.

"He was very loyal to Arsenal and to Arsene. He would do all the things Arsene delegated to him, just how Arsene wanted them.

“He always very complimentary to the players. He made you feel good and I learned a lot from him.

"He helped me adapt to the English game, and he talked about what it meant to play for Arsenal.

“Sometimes you need to see things to understand them, and Pat was able to show me how important Arsenal was.

“I’ve been very impressed with Mikel, and also Edu (sporting director) who stuck with Mikel through it all.

“Those two really had a clear plan of what they wanted to do with Arsenal. It’s a credit to the club that they stuck with that plan long enough to get the fruits of it, as many clubs do not have patience.

“You see Mikel’s passion on the sidelines, his team reflects what he sees and what he says.”

Senderos also opened up playing under Wenger at Arsenal and stated that his former boss could 'see a clear picture' of things that were happening on the pitch where others couldn't.

“Arsene’s knowledge and vision of how he wanted to play was very clear," he stated.

"He was very clear about the roles and the responsibilities of each of his players.

“He had an ideal of playing nice football. The timing, the quality of the position of the pass was key to everything he did. That was his baseline — he built everything on the pass.

“He also had a great vision for the game. At half-time, he would give you two or three great pieces of information because he could see how the game would play out in his head. He could see a clear picture.

“How clear he could see it, I’m not sure many people can do that."

The 59 time capped defender spoke about his passion to learn as his key reasons for attending the IFA course in Belfast.

“I wanted to come here because I heard a lot of good things about the IFA course and how it could make me become a better version of myself and get my message across.

"I’m really enjoying it — I want to learn as much as possible and see where it takes me.

“I’ve taken on a lot of information in one week. The IFA creates a great learning atmosphere where you can get your point across and this is a great group of coaches to work with."