Declan Rice says Arsenal now have six ‘incredible’ players who all play the same position
Declan Rice has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or award for the third year in a row.
The Arsenal midfielder was instrumental to the Premier League title win and the Champions League final run, no matter what Graeme Souness thinks.
His teammates William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes are also nominated after being central to the best defensive unit in Europe.
With Ezri Konsa slotting in seamlessly, Ben White playing at the level again, and Riccardo Calafiori in the form of his life, the depth of the defence is deeper than ever.
But as good as the defence is, Rice is keen to stress the quality of Arsenal’s midfield options.
Declan Rice: Arsenal now have six incredible midfield options
Speaking to media after the Napoli victory, via Hayters TV, Rice was asked about the competition for midfield places, particularly following the signing of Bruno Guimaraes.
“I feel incredibly blessed to play with these players,” he said. “I think we have six incredible midfield options and at whatever point whoever the manager selects to play I’m always going to be supporting the boys because now I had that feeling of winning last season.
“That’s all I want to do again this year and you know with this midfield and whoever he selects we’ve got to be supportive of each other.
“So yeah I’m really looking forward to this season with every one of them. So it’s going to be really special.”
Rice, Guimaraes, Martin Odegaard, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Martin Zubimendi, and Mikel Merino.
That is pretty ridiculous.
And we saw it on show at Villa Park, where the entire midfield was switched out at one point, and the three substitutes who came on, Guimaraes, Zubimendi and Merino, were all brilliant. They gave the manager a headache for the next game, and that’s what it’s all about.
Peter Schmeichel identified something about Arsenal that no other team in the league has — organised work rate sustained right through to the final whistle, with subs coming on and bringing the same level of intensity. That’s only possible when your depth is actually elite.
Zubimendi is reportedly ready to push for a January exit if his minutes don’t improve, which tells you everything about the quality of the players competing for spots.
When a World Cup winner is frustrated at his lack of starts, you know you have serious depth.
But hopefully he stays, and these six incredible players can push each other right the way to the end of the season. Who knows what they could achieve.