Jack Wilshere has discussed the comparison between Declan Rice and Rodri, insisting they are two of the best midfielders in the Premier League.
Rodri and Rice played in the final of Euro 2024 last night, with Spain defeating England to win the competition.
Both players were key men for their countries in the tournament and posted good stats as their teams reached the final stage.
Rice can be proud of his performance despite losing the final, and both midfielders will look to lead their teams to success in the Premier League when club football returns.
They have become two of the best midfielders in Europe with their fantastic performances in the last few seasons, and Wilshere has discussed what makes them different from others and from each other.
He writes in The Sun:
“Rodri has got it all. He can do the possession stuff but he can also leave his foot in, be nasty, be horrible, win the ball.
“Rice is a little younger than him and producing very consistent performances.
“They are at the top of the Premier League. One week, Rice might be ahead, the next it might be Rodri.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Rice and Rodri are two of the best midfielders in the Premier League now, and we expect them to challenge each other again in the competition this season.
Rice has now lost two trophies to Rodri, and hopefully, he will win the next one, in which both their teams will compete.
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An interesting comparison.To me Rodri is very much a centre based DM who’s game is based on the role carried out by his fellow Spaniard Busquets, whereas Rice is more of a ball carrier who is not charged with being the main hub of the team as far as Arsenal is concerned.The fact that Rice started his career as a central defender is fairly evident as he is particularly aware of his responsibilities at set pieces and alive to potential dangers.Rodri is perhaps less risk averse than Rice and I think he has the edge when it comes to ball skills and his ability to link play particularly in tight situations.Others may not agree with my observations, but I am sure most football fans will go along with my appreciation of two very fine players.
I agree – I’d say Rice’s advantage is that he’s quicker, which allows him to burst forwards with the ball more easily, but Rodri is better in tight spaces and I’d say his biggest advantage is his awareness on the ball in terms of seeing the best passes and opportunities to start attacks – rice is brilliant at keeping the ball so I suppose this aligns with your “less risk averse” observation. Both have exceptional defensive awareness and capabilities.
Imo Partey and (to a much lesser extent) jorginho are more comparable players to rodri – defensive midfield playmakers. Rice is more similar to players like kante or camavinga (or Merino), I think – engine room players.
At his best Davi, I think Partey was up there with Rodri, indeed in terms of incisive forward passes he is one of the best I have seen Unfortunately he is decidedly injury prone and I can appreciate why Arteta seems happy to replace him.In this respect I think Merino would be a good buy in that he would bring balance to central midfield which has been missing since the departure of Xhaka.A combo of Rice on the right and Merino on the left would work well in my opinion.Neither are dedicated DMs but as a double pivot they would bring skill,power and composure to the engine room and free up Odegaard in the number ten role.Our captain was excellent last season but he has a tendency to concentrate on the right side of the pitch which is one of the reasons we were relatively weak down the left flank.Merino and hopefully Califiori would introduce natural balance down the left which I am sure would relieve some of the pressure on Martinelli who was the main victim of our lopsidedness last season.
Certainly agree on partey – sadly can’t be relied on.
I’m sceptical about the left-right footedness arguments tbh. I think we saw with havertz in midfield last season the lack of a deep playmaker really hurt us (we couldnt surprise teams and get our dangerous players into dangerous positions), and I think having two box to box midfielders effectively puts all the creative responsibility on odegaard, and limits the forward passing options. When teams have a chance to set themselves, they become difficult to play through, even for someone like odegaard.
Your mention of calafiori does give me pause – he does have some interesting abilities which could help make the difference.
Look how well the Rodri , Ruiz partnership worked for Spain.? As an aside, I was very impressed with Zubimendi when he replaced the injured Rodri at half time in the final and I can fully appreciate why Arteta was keen to bring him to Arsenal to effectively replace Partey.
Might be wrong, but I saw that as rodri at 6 and ruiz playing a bit further forwards – like our partey (rodri) – xhaka/rice (ruiz) – odegaard (olmo) midfield setup, rather than a double-pivot. Partey, jorginho and rodri all play at 6 but still get/got forwards at times for their clubs.
could it be that the lack of deep play making was in fact down to Rice playing #6 in the first half of the season?
Rice was outstanding in the defensive aspects of the #6, just like at West Ham, but less so when it came to playmaking forward, like we saw with England these last weeks
while many point to Havertz moving forward to centre forward for Arsenal very strong second half of the season, Rice moving forward to #8 was equally important in that transformation
Jorginho came in initially at that #6, then Partey for last five games
in a West Ham/England defensive safety first system Rice is superb at #6
in an Arsenal possession based progressive system then Rice did not have the complete set of tools, but moving him #8 got the best out of him
hence why the Partey and Jorginho replacements, yes 2 needed as both are clearly in the twilight and will need replacing over this summer and next, are the highest priority and biggest impact recruitment this transfer window for me
Yes, that’s viewpoint entirely. I think rice was playing 6 because partey was unavailable (maybe jorginho as well, can’t remember). We struggled to play well until jorginho came into the side, and yes, I put the improvement down to that far more than havertz moving up front