Ray Parlour hopes Declan Rice can ‘contribute more’ but believes he moved Arsenal closer to being Premier League champions like when Virgil van Dijk joined Liverpool.
The Gunners smashed the bank to sign Rice from West Ham United in a club-record transfer last July. He left the Irons after a decade to join Arsenal as Mikel Arteta’s number-one target. His final claret-and-blue act was also lifting the Europa Conference League as their captain.
Rice has since been an instrumental figure at Emirates Stadium having started in 26 of his 28 appearances so far. The 24-year-old has also offered three crucial goals and one assist over his Premier League outings. Only William Saliba has also started all 20 of their league games.
Ray Parlour hopes Declan Rice ‘contributes more’ goals at Arsenal
But while Rice scored crucial goals to help Arsenal beat Luton Town and Manchester United, plus drawing at Chelsea, Parlour hopes the 48-cap England anchor continues to enhance his return. This season is already one of the Irons product’s most prolific Premier League terms.
Rice only needs one more goal over Arsenal’s remaining 18 Premier League games to match his personal-best return of four. He offered West Ham four goals in 37 games last season for his best return. Rice had only scored six goals in his 167 top-flight matches prior to 2022/23.
Yet Parlour feels Arsenal need Rice to score more often as Arteta needs his midfielders to hit home regularly. The Spaniard had Granit Xhaka scoring seven in 37 and Martin Odegaard hit 15 in 37 last term. But Odegaard only has four in 17 this term, the same as Kai Havertz in 19.
“I hope that he can contribute a little more,” Parlour told Tipsbladet. “I would like to see him score a bit more goals. Arsenal have a lot more possession than West Ham and I hope he can contribute to the midfield adding a bit more goals than last season.”
Ray Parlour likens Declan Rice to Virgil van Dijk joining Liverpool
But while Parlour would like to see Rice continue to score, the midfielder has impressed the Arsenal legend since leaving West Ham. The Romford Pele particularly appreciates that Rice has added another leader to Arteta’s team and takes the Gunners close to being champions.
Parlour likens the progress Arsenal have made with Rice in their team to how Liverpool grew after signing Van Dijk. The defender left Southampton for Anfield in January 2018 and went on to win the Champions League in 2018/19 and then lift the 2019/20 Premier League title.
“Rice has gathered some good experience playing for the England national team and it was fantastic for him to win a trophy with West Ham last season,” Parlour added. “He’s a leader, he was a young captain at West Ham and you need leaders all over the pitch.
“I really think he’s a fantastic addition to the club. People talk about him costing £100m and how much money that is. Sure, it’s a lot of money. But people don’t talk about the money as much now as they did this summer, do they?
“When Liverpool signed a contract with Virgil van Dijk, it was said from all corners of the world, ‘Oh no, £75m for a centre-back? You can’t do that!’
“But if you can sign a player that brings you closer to winning titles, it’s money well spent. I would much rather spend £100m on Declan Rice than bring in two players for £50m each.”
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
