After a three-week international break that has felt like an eternity, the Premier League champions are back in action this weekend.
Arsenal host Leeds United at the Emirates for Saturday’s early kick-off, and Mikel Arteta has many players returning from their duties with their national teams. Among those are England quartet Bukayo Saka, Ezri Konsa, Eberechi Eze and Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Declan Rice would have been one of those players too, but he withdrew from the camp for load management reasons. That’s understandable given the sheer amount of football the Gunners midfielder has played over the 18 months.
Rice has been integral to Arsenal’s success under Arteta and is firmly among the very best midfielders in the world. And yet, people within the club believe he still has another gear to find.
People within Arsenal believe Declan Rice is yet to reach his ceiling
According to Flashscore, sources close to the club suggest there is a belief within Arsenal that Rice can yet fully unlock another level of his game.
Specifically, they believe he can carry the ball forward even more than he already does, take more shots on goal and contribute more actively in the final third.
That’s particularly fascinating when you consider that Arteta has deliberately deployed Rice deeper in the early stages of this season. Rice is the best midfielder in the world when it comes to the defensive side of the game — no one can match his tackling ability, ground coverage, physicality and recoveries.
And with Bruno Guimaraes and Myles Lewis-Skelly sharing the minutes alongside him, there is no longer so much onus on Rice to bomb forward and add threat further up the pitch. There are players in the squad that can do who sort of stuff better than him. The same can’t be said out of possession.
Despite this, Arsenal still clearly see potential in Rice as a box-to-box midfielder, and so they should — he’s great there. He scored nine goals in all competitions last season, in what was the best return of his career.
Right now, he’s probably being used where he at his best — as a pure defensive midfielder, anchoring the side. It will be interesting to see what sort of role he takes on as the season progresses.