Graeme Souness' bold take on one of this year's Ballon d'Or nominees could look very interesting if they beat Barcelona star Lamine Yamal to the award.
Yamal is one of the hot favourites to take the Golden Ball home when the awards ceremony takes place at the London Palladium on October 26th. His scintillating form for Barca fired the Catalans to the La Liga title last season and he also helped Spain win the World Cup earlier this summer.
The 19-year-old isn't the only one hotly-tipped to win the Ballon d'Or as he faces competition from England captain Harry Kane and Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe. Those three appear to be the main challengers to have their names added to the prestigious list of winners.
Souness Doubted Declan Rice Before Ballon d'Or Nod
Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra
This could be the year that an Englishman wins the Ballon d'Or for the first time since Michael Owen claimed the award back in 2004. Kane enjoyed a remarkable run of form, scoring 73 goals for England and Bayern Munich last term.
The English contingent joining him on the nominee list are Arsenal's Declan Rice and Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham. While Bellingham put in one of the best World Cup campaigns of any English player in history, Rice also caught the eye after playing a starring role for the Gunners in their Premier League title-winning season.
Rice's performances were recognised by France Football and L'Equipe but not so much Souness who downplayed his abilities and prominence in world football. He made clear he doesn't view Rice as one of the best midfielders because he doesn't affect games due to playing deep.
Souness also said during an appearance on Piers Morgan's Football Uncensored Show that he's more of a centre half than a midfielder and doubted Rice's chances of getting into four of Europe's top teams:
"I'm not sure if he gets in Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Man City's teams. If you want the best in that position, City had two of them -- Fernandinho and Rodri. They played in midfield. Next time, please watch him. He goes in and gets it cheap under no pressure, a 10-yard pass off Gabriel, and passes it sideways."
Rice is a holding midfielder who does tend to drop deep but also drives his team forward with runs on and off the ball. He started his career at centre-back before moving into midfield while at West Ham United, where he earned plaudits and a £100m move to Arsenal in 2023.
A Bar Chart Depicting Arsenal Before vs After Declan Rice Including Before Rice (202223) and Post-Rice Avg
Rodri Doesn't Share Souness' View of Declan Rice
REUTERS/Pablo Morano
While Rice might not be among the favourites to win the Ballon d'Or, his nomination itself is an acknowledgment of his talent and influence in Mikel Arteta's team. He is one of only a few £100m plus players who have lived up to their price tag when moving to one of the Premier League's big guns.
Rice might not have won Souness over so far in his career, but he has a fan in Rodri, who is also nominated. Now teammates with Yamal at Barca, the former Manchester City midfielder spoke highly of the Gunners star back in 2024: "Declan I like a lot, what he does, even though he's not the same role I do."
In an interview with Sky Sports earlier that year, Rodri had again praised Rice while assessing his playing abilities: ""I think he's grown massively as a player as we can see. I think he's a great player and midfielder. I think he's doing great at Arsenal and it's not easy to change from what he was doing at West Ham to Arsenal."
Rodri added: ""You can see on the pitch he's super strong, has physicality and he can make runs of 30 or 40 metres so easily because he has this power to do it. We're different players but we play in the same position."
Arsenal's Declan Rice looks on
Arsenal's Declan Rice looks on
There may be no better player to turn to for an opinion on Rice than Rodri, who has arguably been the best holding midfielder of his generation. He already has a Ballon d'Or to his name after winning the award back in 2024.