Graeme Souness has doubled down on his criticism of Declan Rice, reiterating the Arsenal midfielder is more of a defender and claiming he wouldn’t start for any of his club’s top European rivals.
In July, Souness said Rice “might be a centre-half” as he said the highly-rated England international was “limited.”
And despite Rice’s impressive start to the Premier League season — following a below-par World Cup amid injury concerns — Souness has again questioned 27-year-old.
“How many times do you see him as the last man with the ball,” Liverpool legend said on Piers Morgan’s Football Uncensored show. “In the build-up, he’s last man. He’s sitting between two centre-halves or between the centre-half and the full-back. He’s last man. A lot of the time, he doesn’t play in midfield.
“He [Rice] plays too deep to affect the game. I don’t think he’s got enough football. Let me tell you what he can do. He’s the best defensive midfielder in the country right now, he smells danger. But then again, he’s back there all the time.
“He’s not a midfield player then is he? I think he may be a centre-half. The ball travels faster than you do. I see him run with the ball 30 yards and pass it square. He’s a lovely kicker of the ball and opens his body up well, there’s nothing to dislike about him. But modern players are a bit precious. Criticism doesn’t fall easily on these [players’] shoulders. He isn’t the complete midfield player.”
Souness added: “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.”
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Rice played the full 90 minutes in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Chelsea on Sunday, as Mikel Arteta’s champions continued their perfect start to the new season.
Arsenal travel to play Napoli in the Champions League on Wednesday before facing Sunderland at the weekend.
