Enzo Maresca claims Arsenal have a player who’s so ‘complete’ that he can do ‘anything’

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Enzo Maresca has been studying Arsenal ahead of their game against Chelsea.

The Blues have had a fine start to the new season and are currently second in the Premier League table. The only team above them are Arsenal, who are six points clear at the top.

Maresca has never beaten the Gunners before as a head coach, and he would love nothing more than to change that on Sunday. But a player he helped train could ruin his side’s chances: Declan Rice.

Enzo Maresca hails Declan Rice and opens up on training him before he joined Arsenal

Maresca became popular after he joined Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff at Manchester City and then landed jobs at Leicester and Chelsea.

However, the Italian did a lot of good work before that as well.

After spells as an assistant at Ascoli and Sevilla, Manuel Pellegrini brought Maresca to West Ham United to help him out.

During his time in East London, the now-Chelsea boss met Rice, and he has revealed that they did a lot of individual sessions together.

Speaking about working with Rice, Maresca said, as per the Evening Standard: “It was a little bit different time when I was at West Ham. He [Rice] was younger. I spent many extra sessions with Declan, one-v-one, and you could see that he was already very good.

“He was with second-team players as a central defender. Manuel Pellegrini decided to play him in the first team as a midfielder but [he] was different age compared to Moises. But you could see that he was already very, very good.”

When asked if he deserves credit for Rice becoming an elite midfielder, Maresca replied: “No, no, no. “Pellegrini decided to play [him there].

“He’s not playing as a holding midfielder [anymore]. He’s playing forward, he’s playing like Enzo Fernandez. It’s a different position [from Caicedo’s]. It’s evolution for him, and it’s Mikel [Arteta]’s work.

“He is a fantastic player, and he’s a complete player. He can defend, he can attack, he can do anything.”

Enzo Maresca’s comments are proof that Declan Rice is better than Moises Caicedo

The debate over who is the better out of Rice and Caicedo has been a hot topic of discussion ahead of Arsenal’s game against Chelsea on Sunday.

The two midfielders don’t play in the same position. Rice is a box-to-box player now, while Caicedo is a number six.

For that reason, a direct comparison doesn’t make much sense, but if you’re talking about who the better midfielder is overall, the answer is clear – just ask Maresca.

The Chelsea boss claimed above that Rice can do ‘anything’. The same cannot be said about Caicedo, and that should settle the debate.