DECLAN RICE is too good for Arsenal, claims former England star Teddy Sheringham.
The midfielder has been one of the stars of the season following his £100million switch from West Ham.
Rice has helped Arsenal to the top of the table and Mikel Arteta’s side are on course for their best points tally since 2002.
Sheringham believes Rice has made a big difference by adding balance to the Gunners midfield, suggesting he has got the best out of many of his team-mates.
He told Genting Casino: “You don’t really care about the £100 million price tag when someone does that well. I looked at it last year, and I said that he would do the job of both Xhaka and Partey and that’s what he’s done.
“He’s given Arsenal the balance in the midfield that allows them to release two players in front of Declan Rice. He allows other players to go out and play.
“Martin Odegaard has a new lease of life with Rice in the team. Havertz has come alive and he’s fitted into Arsenal’s style – one minute he’s floating about, coming deep, the next he’s scoring headers and acting as a target man, but Rice allows Arsenal to get more out of him too.
“Declan lets other players express themselves. He’s that good. I called it last summer. I knew he would be a fantastic signing for Arsenal, and I think he has transformed Arsenal from a good team into an awesome one.
“Hopefully he will move on to one of Real Madrid and Barcelona because he’s too good for Arsenal.”
Rice, 25, has been shortlisted for the Footballer of the Year alongside 17 players including team-mates Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.
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By Troy Deeney
THERE are certain people that you come across in football and you know instantly who they are, what they’re about and what the trajectory of their life is going to be.
Anyone who has worked or grown up with Declan Rice knows that he has always been destined for the top.
When he was at West Ham, he was a centre-half who played in midfield purely to help out and ended up excelling.
The way he used to listen and learn from his old captain Mark Noble and be a student of the game was second to none.
And because of that, whenever I interacted with him on a football pitch, I never felt the need to be disrespectful towards him because there was just a pure will to win.
We would tell each other to ‘do one’ every now and again but then I would get these weird moments when he would do something special and I couldn’t help but say, ‘Good touch, mate’.
He had this joyful atmosphere around him which you can see in all of his interviews, even now at Arsenal. You never see him get in trouble, being outlandish, but he has that jokey personality.
He is still quite kiddish at 25, yet with a very serious body and mind in terms of being the best player he can be.
When he was announced as England captain against Belgium, there was no outrage, no shock or surprise or, ‘Why him?’. It was more a sense of, ‘Yeah, that makes sense’.
There is no doubt in my mind that he is in line to take the armband for his country full-time after Harry Kane moves on, alongside his midfield partner Jude Bellingham.
Read Troy Deeney’s column in full.
He also finished second in the voting for the Football Writers Association Footballer of the Year, which Phil Foden won.
However Roy Keane has not been impressed by Rice this season, claiming the England midfielder has not “kicked on”.
He said: “I don’t think he’s been great this season, I really don’t. I think he’s not really kicked on.
“For all the talk about him, a lot of good PR coming out of West Ham about how much he’s worth, I think he needs to do a lot more. Doesn’t score enough goals, doesn’t get enough assists.”
