Declan Rice has spoken about his fitness levels after missing much of pre-season due to England’s run to the final of Euro 2024.
Rice, along with his England teammates who reached the final, was granted an extended break following the competition. As a result, they missed a significant portion of pre-season.
Despite this, key players like Rice and Bukayo Saka have been integral to their clubs from the start of the season.
Both players were also involved in England’s recent match against the Republic of Ireland, playing the full 90 minutes.
Following his strong performance in that game, Rice has revealed that he is just beginning to reach his peak fitness for the season.
He said to Sky Sports:
“To be honest with you, I’ve not been feeling 100% fit so far, I’ve kind of been doing my pre-season in the Premier League, but today I feel like I took a real step, I could feel it within myself, I was feeling back to myself.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Rice is a dedicated player, and this admission will make fans love him even more.
The midfielder is a terrific player and is also very committed to his job, which makes him likable.
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I did get a lot of criticism when I mentioned at the beginning of the season that Timber will eventually play in a midfield role for Arsenal due to his 360 style of play and the fact that he covers so much ground during play. So don’t be surprised if Arteta plays Timber in a more advanced role during the season. He has already adapted well to the inverted fullback, but their is more to come from him in a more advanced midfield role and offers Arsenal more energy in the engine room.
I was initially thinking he wouldn’t play midfield, but I’m growing more convinced he will end up doing so – if not full time, at least for some games. Just seems the type who could play practically any position and at least look decent. Arteta did make a big thing of his versatility when we signed him, so it makes sense.
Please arteta let rice play the position but only add him a good substuter and add strikers thank you Mr.Arsenal
It’s a fair point but our players were not alone in that. Players from other EPL clubs were involved in the latter stages of the Euros so will have had much the same issues, I guess.
Quite rightly clubs want their players (and the players want) to represent their country at tournaments such as the Euros, but clubs also want them to have an adequate pre-season. Tricky if the country gets to the closing stages.