I hope England play him off against Bellingham. That needle will propel the team forward. Rice is a married family man and he clashes with his Galactico counterpart. Both brilliant players but Rice doesn't know how good he is.
Bellingham, a very good footballer, but largely overrated over the last couple of years. Although, he is a moments player for sure, and loves to pop up with a big goal, especially in the last few minutes - which is a talent few possess at the highest level. Kinda the opposite of Kane. Rice - been a relatively quiet season up until the last couple of months, but my word he's been turning it on lately. He's probably one of a handful of players who have 'justified' (you know what I mean...) his price tag being over a 100 million and it working out brilliantly. Though he still hasn't won a thing at Arsenal. Saka, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly & Rice, all look sensational. England have no excuses, and to be fair, neither does Arsenal. Saliba, Gabriel, Saka, Rice, Raya, Timber... So many good players. Odegaard is brilliant technically but goes missing alot, but he's another when on form is a right handful. They have a makings a proper good team. Such a shame for them they didn't bother buying a striker because that 1 signing could have been all the difference in the league. If Arsenal don't win the champions league this season, it really wouldn't surprise me to see one of Saliba or Gabriel leaving, even though they say they aren't...
Declan - 0utstanding footballer. Completely dominated the games against RM. Seems to be growing with every game.
Very similar physical attributes & defensive abilities but not even close when it comes to passing ability & goal scoring.
In fairness to Rice, Gerrard didn’t ’mature’, as the player he became until around 25. Similar age to Rice now.
Different players for me but yes, he probably will be come better than Gerrard but needs to be world class most seasons. In my opinion, Rice has only been levels above other midfielders last two seasons. He has been awesome recently though.
I’d agree he started to come into his own towards end of that season but wasn’t any better than Rice is now. What I’m saying is Gerrard post 2005 was very special and Rice has time to grow into that. All IMO of course
Some way to go to get near Gerrard but is as close as anyone has been. See him as a slightly different player but he's one of the worlds best in that role. Agree he just needs a touch of arrogance in his play and he could partner Bellingham to world cup glory.
What i would like to say is that a midfield pairing for England of Rice and Bellingham is so good to think about. Both top quality.
