What Danny Murphy just said proves how underrated ‘excellent’ Arsenal star really is

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Pundit Danny Murphy was involved in a debate regarding which midfielder is the best in the Premier League right now.

Arsenal have some quality midfielders at their disposal, as seen early into the 2025/26 campaign, as Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice continue to gel. 

Zubimendi fits Arsenal like a glove, being one of the eight summer signings who haven’t taken any time to adapt to the Premier League.

While it’s too early to judge where the Spaniard truly ranks in terms of Premier League midfielders, Rice has the experience under his belt to be involved in conversations surrounding the best.

Danny Murphy considers Declan Rice to be one of the best midfielders in the Premier League 

There has been a lot of talk about midfielders after matchday seven of the Premier League season.

Rice responded to how poorly the West Ham fans treated him with a goal against his former club during Arsenal’s 2-0 win over the Hammers at the Emirates. 

It wasn’t only the Englishman to score from midfield on matchday seven, as Moises Caicedo stunned Liverpool with a superb strike. 

Since then, Caicedo has been called a better player than Rice by Gary Neville, and now, Danny Murphy has had his say.  

“Gravenberch, Rice, Caicedo, those three come to mind straight away,” Murphy said on talkSPORT when considering who the best midfielder in the Premier League is right now. 

“They’ve all got different attributes in terms of an all-round, the thing is, Caicedo, has kind of changed people’s view a little bit in the last three weeks.”

Murphy noted that while Caicedo is the talk of the town, his output hasn’t been desirable throughout his time at Chelsea, which brought Rice back into the conversation.

“He scored two worldies, one at Brentford and the one against Liverpool, I think up until then his goals tally was pretty dismal because a lot of people were saying he doesn’t create and he’s not a creative passer, he’s not going to get out of his feet and split open a defence.

“Gravenberch can do that a bit more, Declan can do that a little bit, but they’ve all got these wonderful qualities. 

“They’re all tenacious. They’re all strong. I think for me, although he’s [Caicedo] playing probably the best at the moment as a holding midfielder, I’d still have Gravenberch ahead of him.”

To conclude, Murphy was asked where Rodri would stand in the rankings if he were fully fit, to which the pundit stated that the Manchester City star is ‘better than all of them.’

Murphy’s comments only show that Rice is so underrated 

While Murphy was well within his rights to shine a light on Caicedo and Gravenberch, who have been excellent, the lack of talk about Rice is tedious. 

Rodri has earned his flowers, a Ballon d’Or and a host of accolades at Man City will show you that, but Rice, who was just described as ‘excellent’, is slipping under the radar. 

As Murphy stated, Caicedo has been particularly impressive over the past few weeks, with Gravenberch the same, but nobody is talking about how consistently brilliant Rice really is. 

Rice’s in-game intelligence has been praised for how he dictates games through his positioning, a mundane task that often falls under the radar, though that’s not the only area in which he shines.

Since the start of last season in the Premier League, the Arsenal midfielder has more goals and assists than Caicedo and Gravenberch combined. 

Taking Rodri out of the debate, if it’s control from deep midfield that is evaluated, Rice is right up there, and if it’s goals and assists, no one involved in the debate comes close.

For a £105m signing to be underrated is a rarity in football, but maybe that’s just how good Rice is.