Declan Rice has helped Arsenal transform with his versatility – a skill set that goes far beyond the duties of a defensive midfielder. Is there anything you can’t do?

Declan Rice is proof that the amount of money a team spends to acquire a player will no longer matter if he shines brightly. 

Rice joined Arsenal last summer with a contract worth £105 million (100 million immediate payment + 5 million in add-ons). That is the 7th highest transfer fee in football history in general and the second highest in Premier League history in particular, after Chelsea’s £107 million Enzo Fernández deal in early 2023. 

A large transfer fee will certainly bring a lot of pressure, creating the risk of a player struggling to demonstrate his ability on the field, and we have seen this happen a lot times in recent years. From Fernando Torres’s misery after moving to Chelsea for a fee of £50m, to £86m star Paul Pogba’s inability to reach his full potential at Manchester United, Premier League history is full of examples, of bombs.

More recent examples: Enzo Fernandes has yet to really prove that he is completely worth the huge amount of money that Chelsea has spent, and we can make similar comments about his partner in the Premier League. The Blues are Moisés Caicedo, another million-dollar midfielder – similar to Rice. 

In complete contrast to them, Rice is not only proving that he is worth every penny that The Gunners have spent, he even makes the £105 million figure look like a huge bargain. 

Although Rice’s ability is indeed the most important aspect of this young man, his always being ready for battle is also another factor that has created the value of the 25-year-old midfielder. 

Rice started 175 of West Ham’s 190 Premier League matches from the 2018-19 to 2022-23 season, and was only absent from Arsenal’s starting lineup once this season. Even in that match – against Luton Town at home earlier this month – he came off the bench. The English midfielder also started 9/10 matches in the Champions League (and came off the bench in the remaining match). 

Rice can fight every week not only because he possesses superior physical strength. He also played with remarkable discipline, thus avoiding suspensions – an extremely impressive point for a player whose main task is to disrupt the opponent’s play and recover the ball.

The 25-year-old star has successfully recovered the ball 160 times this season but only committed 28 fouls. Making a bit of comparison, Caicedo also had a similar number of successful ball recoveries but had 44 fouls. Alexis Mac Allister recovered the ball 180 times but committed 46 fouls. Rodri – the best ball-recovery midfielder in the world today – is the only person with a similar ball-winning/fouling ratio as Rice, with 195 ball recoveries and 36 fouls. 

However, Rice has only received 4 yellow cards and has not received any red cards this season. Caicedo has received up to 9 yellow cards and although he has not yet received a red card, this midfielder is considered lucky to have escaped being sent off several times since joining Chelsea; look back at his fouls on Jérémy Doku in the Premier League, on Ryan Gravenberch and Anthony Gordon in the Carabao Cup. 

Mac Allister received 6 yellow cards and 1 red card; Luiz received 10 yellow cards; Rodri had 8 yellow cards and 1 red card. They all had at least one time when they were not allowed to play because of suspension. As for Rice, he has not missed any matches, and playing every week has helped him continuously improve since joining the Emirates Stadium team.

Physically, he is truly a monster. Rice is big, and strong and has the ability to cover the field, steal unclaimed balls, and win duels all over the field. As well as winning the ball 77 times in midfield – 20th in the Premier League in this regard because he plays for a team that is good at controlling the ball – he also did it 57 times in the final third. Arsenal’s stadium. The 25-year-old midfielder also ranked 12th in the English National Championship in terms of the number of times he won the ball in the final third of the opponent’s field (28), thereby showing his significant contribution to The Gunners’ high-level pressing. 

Rice’s heat map this season covers almost the entire field. 

But Rice’s influence on the field is not limited to his ability to recover the ball – although many consider him a No. 6 midfielder, this is the role most believe Arsenal plays. he came back to take over.

In fact, the English star played extremely mobile and held the ball a lot, thereby making the notion that his role was simply to disrupt the opponent’s play completely wrong. Rice is essentially a top-class box-to-box who has made a number of important contributions high up the pitch at West Ham, and this season Mikel Arteta is taking him to a whole new level. 

Rice’s most impressive performance in an Arsenal shirt came when Jorginho played the role of the lowest player in The Gunners’ midfield, thereby creating conditions for Rice to freely participate in attacks as a midfielder. Number 8 is shifted to the left. 

At the beginning of the season, with Thomas Partey struggling with injuries and Jorginho playing unconvincingly, Rice often had to become the lowest midfielder in the middle. But in the second half of the season, Rice was moved into a higher position thanks to Jorginho’s reliable form behind him. The results obtained from this adjustment are very clear. 

Rice has entered the opponent’s penalty area more often. With 6 goals and 6 assists this season, this is the season in which this midfielder has the highest scoring + assist record in his career.

In Rice’s first two goals – against Chelsea and Luton Town – he simply became an attacking player under duress, as Arsenal had to throw caution to the side in an attempt to score. discuss at all costs. In his last 20 appearances in the Premier League, Rice has scored 4 goals and had 5 assists (an average of 0.45 goals + assists per match), and in his previous 14 appearances, he only scored 2 goals and had only 1 assist (average performance of 0.21 goals + assists per match).

It is clear that Declan Rice is now being encouraged to move forward and participate more in the attack. In the first 25 matches playing for Arsenal, he only had 23 touches of the ball inside the opponent’s penalty area (6 of which belonged to 1 match – the confrontation with Brighton in December), the average intensity was not yet. up to 1 time per match. But in the last 9 matches, Rice has touched the ball 33 times in the opponent’s penalty area – an average of 3.7 times per match.

Rice’s ability to dribble the ball has also greatly helped the role he plays now, and the English midfielder is an extremely important factor in helping Arsenal move from defense to attack quickly. . He is currently ranked 6th in the Premier League this season and ranks first among non-defensive players in terms of the number of times he has pulled the ball toward the opponent’s goal at least 10 meters (143 times). 

Only two players – midfielders Rúben Dias (7,379 meters) and Jan Paul van Hecke (7,206 meters) – have recorded a higher total distance on the ball than Rice this season (7,168) when Calculating the average number (11.7 meters each time), he stands above both of them. 

These contributions are very important for Arsenal’s goal of pressing the opponent’s field.

While the “underdog” teams may be forced to use a long “spam” kicking style and try to win the second ball against the home team at Emirates Stadium, Rice will help The Gunners maintain tight control of the ball while pressing. competitor. 

Recently, the 25-year-old midfielder’s skill set has also been supplemented with a new “weapon”, taking on the task of taking corner kicks on Arsenal’s left wing. He only became a free-kicker for The Gunners in January but has quickly proven himself to be a truly effective option for the job, although sending him out of the box would cost Arsenal. Going for an aerial combat specialist can put the opponent’s goal in jeopardy.

Among Premier League players who have taken more than 15 corners this season, Rice is the one who recorded the highest average expected assists (0.04 per corner), thereby showing that he is capable of creating high-quality chances when taking on this task. When considering the total expected assists from corner kicks, the English midfielder is in 9th place (1.4), and most of the reason is that the names above have done a little more than him. Most 23 corner kicks. 

Of the 37 corner kicks that Rice took, 3 resulted in goals for Arsenal (8.1%), not many players have a better rate than him. Of course, this success does not only belong to the 25-year-old midfielder alone, but is also contributed to by the efforts of his teammates who tried to take advantage of his crosses, but the fact that he can add “the This “weapon” to your skill set is truly impressive. Now, it’s hard to point to a weakness in Rice. 

The decision to sign Declan Rice has truly transformed Arsenal, and regardless of whether they win the Premier League this season or not, with this man in place, it’s clear they’re ready to move on. join the race for the throne in many years to come. 

Now, it is difficult to determine how much Rice’s value has increased. Regardless of the initial fee or the final fee The Gunners have to pay, it is clear that he is extremely worth every penny they have and will have to spend.