Declan Rice is arguably Arsenal’s player of the season this year and Mikel Arteta has given his star midfielder some high praise.
With Rice desperate to help Arsenal over the line to win some trophies, the pressure is on for the England man to be the driving force in the final few weeks.
Along with Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva, Rice is being tipped to win the Premier League player of the year award as well.
And according to Mikel Arteta, Rice is doing everything needed of the modern midfielder.
Mikel Arteta sings Declan Rice’s praises ahead of Arsenal v Fulham
With Rice set to be a prominent figure once again this weekend against Fulham, he will once again be expected to deliver.
But speaking more generally about the midfielder, Arsenal boss Arteta had some high words of praise for the England man.
“What we need are players who can occupy any position on the field. Modern football is going in that direction,” Arteta commented.
“When you’re a midfielder, you’re a midfielder – not a six, eight or 10. If we want a total team, we’d better have total players to do that, to be comfortable and dominant in any area of the pitch, to dominate every phase of play. Declan is certainly evolving in that direction.”
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Asked about Rice’s form and if he feels his man can win the player of the year award, Arteta admits what Rice is doing is ‘extremely rare’.
“What Declan is doing again is incredible. To play the amount of games, minutes with the quality that he’s shown in every game is something extremely difficult to do, and he’s doing it, not only this season, but the last few seasons that he’s been with us, and to show that level of consistency is extremely rare because the demands and the standards are very, very high,” he continued.
Arsenal’s £100m outlay now looks like money well spent
When Arsenal spent around £100m on Declan Rice a few seasons back, there were eyebrows raised across the entire league.
Yes, Rice had done well with West Ham and led them to a European trophy. But he wasn’t seen as the finished article by many in England and he had something to prove.
Now, as Arsenal look to win both the title and Champions League, the money spent on Rice has certainly been worth it.
Of course, there’s the argument that until Arsenal win something then it’s hard to judge. But in terms of pure impact and making a team his own, Rice has been exceptional.
Of all Arsenal’s players, he is the one who deserves something out of this season. If not, then it should only serve to drive him further next season where we could see an even better version of Rice.
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