Declan Rice has responded to those criticizing him for not scoring enough goals.

During his tenure at West Ham, the England international saw his lack of goals exploited to distract from his strengths. The likes of Roy Keane, Graeme Souness and Jamie Redknapp pointed towards that area of Rice’s game.


In an evaluation from the previous campaign, former Manchester United captain Keane said that Rice needed to improve in order to rank among the best players because “he doesn’t score enough goals and he doesn’t get enough assists.”

Since then, the midfield player has signed a £105 million contract with Arsenal, where he has made 35 Premier League appearances while contributing eight assists and six goals. Those numbers already outshine what he produced for the Irons last term, but Rice believes the criticism was unfair.
“No, not really,” Rice replied speaking to The Athletic. “Because Roy Keane, (Graeme) Souness, (Jamie) Redknapp, guys that talk about my goalscoring abilities, if you looked at their goals, they didn’t score hundreds in their career.

“But they’re recognized for what they did as midfield players: Roy Keane breaking up play, being a hard-tackling midfielder, won tons of titles for United.

“The same with Souness. So I don’t know why when it comes to me it’s all about goals, because it’s never been my game. Since I’ve been scoring, no one has said anything!”
Rice has previously poked fun at Keane’s assessment, and joked with the Sky Sports pundit after scoring against United earlier this season. In as post-match chat, the 25-year-old jibed: “What do you reckon Roy?”

Keane replied: “Own goal.” The ball appeared to take a tiny deflection following Rice’s stroke.

On that occasion the match-winner did accept that he had become more ruthless in front of goal. “The old me would’ve set that back for a cross, not going to lie,” Rice continued.

“I would have played that back to (Fabio) Vieira when I was younger. But last minute of the game, fine margins and if you don’t shoot you don’t score.”