Declan Rice is one of the best midfielders in the world and his match-winning displays for Arsenal in the Champions League this season are proof of how terrific he is.
With the Arsenal dynamo being the world-class player he is, it is no surprise that he has been compared to several midfielders at Manchester City — who have raised the bar for several years now.
Rodri won the Ballon d’Or for one but even so, the Spaniard and Rice are often pitted against each other due to being defensive midfielders by trade.
Bernardo Silva is a magician himself and often operates in a similar advanced midfield role to the Englishman.
But fundamentally, Declan Rice is a different profile of player to any of City’s midfielders as one way to class the former West Ham United skipper would be to describe him as an out-and-out destroyer — as Wayne Rooney had his say on him being constantly compared to Rodri.
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images
Wayne Rooney says Rodri is better than Declan Rice
Wayne Rooney was quizzed about which player he reckons is better out of Rodri and Rice.
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Rodri rates Rice very highly and Rooney, who played with holding midfielders of the ilk of Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves is certainly best-placed to share his opinion.
Speaking to YouTuber Thogden on his TikTok channel, Wayne Rooney picked Rodri over Rice in an instant.
🏴 Pep Guardiola on Declan Rice: “For sure everybody knows City wanted him, we wanted him. He could play not just when Rodri could not”.
“At the end, Arsenal pushed more and wanted him more, maybe Arteta was more convincing than me, or the club itself, or their offer…”. pic.twitter.com/l9GGuQKzJN
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 7, 2023
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Even Yaya Toure prefers Rodri over Rice as the four-time Premier League winner is widely considered the best number six in the world.
What Declan Rice has said about Rodri
Rice raved about Rodri as the best number six in the world — which could indicate that he might not mind Wayne Rooney’s opinion too much.
In March last year, Rice revealed Manchester City’s players hail Rodri on England duty and admit to him that the Sky Blues are not the same side without him.
Rice stated he bumped into Rodri in Ibiza on holiday in Ibiza and the pair even had a chat.
Most assists provided by Premier League players across all competitions in 2024:
◎ 14 – Kevin De Bruyne
◎ 9 – Rodri
◉ 8 – Harvey Elliott
◎ 7 – Declan Rice
◎ 7 – Cole Palmer
Plane? ✈️#LIVTOT pic.twitter.com/npyvBiuLCB
— Squawka Live (@Squawka_Live) May 5, 2024
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“He was with a group of friends and we were next to him and as footballers, when you see other footballers out, you always end up talking and it was great to talk to him.”
Rice went on to laud Rodri, saying: “I’m a big admirer of him.”
“He’s playing for Man City, I’m playing for Arsenal, we’re battling it out. He’s a fantastic player, he plays game after game, he’s got the trophies to his name as well, I’ll never say a bad word about him.”