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Declan Rice is really good at playing the game of football. That is probably the understatement of the year.
Rice has been balling out for the last few years, but not only since he joined Arsenal in 2023. Even before that, he was genuinely quality, and was easily one of the best young players in the world.
Fast forward to now, and Rice has gone on with his progression, consistently playing out of his mind for both club and country.
The most underrated fact about him is that he is a serial winner. A mentality monster. One of those that Arsenal have needed for a while. He wills his team to victory on so many occasions, at the biggest stages, and never hides away from those moments.
In fact, I've got a take that the rest of Europe is not ready for.
Most people in England - well, most unbiased fans in England, anyway - label Rice as one of the very best midfielders in the world. He is constantly up there in the conversations of being the best in the Premier League alongside Chelsea's Moises Caicedo.
Caicedo plays more of a defensive midfielder role, while Rice is more box-to-box.
If we're talking strictly in terms of central midfielders, Rice is the best in the Premier League.
Declan Rice has a genuine case to be the best central midfielder in Europe
The thing about Rice that many people outside England don't realise is that he is probably better than your favorite midfielder, too.
Rice has a genuine case to be the best central midfielder in the world, or at least, top two or top three, but people are not ready for that conversation.
Many fans who don't watch Arsenal or the Premier League regularly jump to the conclusion that these players in the Premier League are overrated due to the fanbase or the media.
However, with Rice, it is a totally different ball game. He is constantly a duel winning machine. His long range passing is one of the best in the world. His set-pieces - particularly corners, and as we saw against Real Madrid, his free kicks, too - are absolutely elite.
Rice controls the game well, and is very intelligent with his movement. He drops back when the team needs him to provide support while being pressed, and it helps Arsenal a lot more than fans imagine.
Most importantly, he is available in almost every single game - having only missed two games due to injury in his Arsenal career so far.
That alone puts him in the top bracket of central midfielders. Players like Pedri are exceptional in their own right, but the way that Rice is available and consistent in every single game of the season is also crucial in this question.
I'm not saying he is definitively the best central midfielder on planet Earth, but he certainly belongs in that conversation way more than people outside England realise.