Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher believes Anfield missed out on a game-changing transfer for an Arsenal star who could have transformed the Reds in a positive direction
Jamie Carragher working for Sky Sports
Jamie Carragher would have loved to see Declan Rice at Liverpool(Image: Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images)
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Jamie Carragher believes Liverpool require a midfielder who matches Declan Rice's profile to bring greater physicality to the centre of the pitch. The Reds icon reckons the club's most important summer signing could come in midfield.
Carragher claims that Liverpool missed out when they chose not to try and prise Rice from West Ham in the summer of 2023. Arsenal beat Chelsea to his signature as Mikel Arteta impressed the England international.
With Jordan Henderson and Fabinho departing for the Saudi Pro League that summer, Champions League-winner Carragher thinks signing Rice would have replaced both in one fell swoop.
That summer saw Liverpool sign Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch, and miss out on Moises Caicedo, as he joined Chelsea in a record deal.
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In Rice, the 48-year-old thinks Anfield missed out on a player who is primed to win player of the season honours this term. Crucially, Carragher thinks that too great a proportion of Liverpool's midfield stars do not have the physicality to stack up.
“Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister are really good players, but it ends up with two or three players who do not have great physicality in there,” Carragher told The Athletic.
“The one who stands out every time I watch him play is Declan Rice. What a player, honest to god. That’s exactly what Liverpool need. For me, he is the modern-day Roy Keane.
Declan Rice before an Arsenal game
Arsenal star Declan Rice continues to impress Jamie Carragher(Image: Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
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“I don’t think he’s a Stevie Gerrard, because Stevie was more attacking. Roy did a bit of everything; press high, get the ball off the back four, everything. Declan has the set pieces, too.
"I actually don’t think we still give him enough praise. It always feels like there’s a but with him. His passing is fantastic. No one can run past him. His set-piece delivery is as good as anything in European football.”
Jordan Henderson lifts the Premier League trophy
Jordan Henderson captained Liverpool to the Premier League title in 2020(Image: LAURENCE GRIFFITHS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
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“Why Liverpool didn’t go for him…" he added. "The summer he was available, was the summer we were going to get rid of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho.
"My argument at the time was you buy one player (in Rice) to replace two, because he could do both the Fabinho role and also the Henderson one, pressing high, as he shows for Arsenal. Oh god, I’d have loved to have got him in a Liverpool shirt.
“For me, he’s Player of the Year this year, especially if Arsenal win the league. Then he will get the real love he deserves, and hopefully he will go and have a great World Cup (with England), too.”