Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has now claimed that one Arsenal star has received the same treatment Jude Bellingham has been given at Real Madrid.
Declan Rice has rapidly established himself as a fan favourite at Arsenal.
The midfielder has been a revelation at the Emirates Stadium since his £105 million arrival from West Ham United in the recent summer transfer window. The 25-year-old hit the ground running in North London and has gone from strength to strength throughout the season.
Rice has been able to produce a number of magic moments for Arsenal already, as he has been described as having “Roy of the Rovers DNA.” Be it last-minute winning goals, driving runs that fire up the crowd and his teammates, or last-ditch tackles, he has a habit of catching the eye for all the right reasons.
Mikel Arteta will be delighted with the impact that the England man has had at Arsenal. Gareth Southgate will be expecting Rice to be similarly influential for the Three Lions at this summer’s EUROs tournament, where he will surely feature in the middle of the park alongside Jude Bellingham.
Both Rice and the Real Madrid superstar have enjoyed sparkling seasons at club level.
The experience that Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham share
Rio Ferdinand has now drawn another parallel between the pair.
Speaking on his FIVE YouTube channel, the former centre-back said: “It’s a huge amount of pressure to go with that [price-tag], and then to go and perform the way he has and he needed to go in there and kind of the way he plays, chest out, give me the ball, dominant figure, and again, we talked about Jude Bellingham buying into Real Madrid and then the players and the fans buying into him, on a lesser scale probably but they have done the same thing to Declan.
“The fans loved him immediately, the players you can see really have warmed to him as well and he is a real integral part of that squad.”
What next for Declan Rice at Arsenal?
Arsenal fans have certainly taken Rice to their hearts. He has earned this adulation with his consistently brilliant performances. He has taken his game to another level since joining the club.
Arteta has encouraged Rice to take up a more advanced role than ever before, and as a result the 50-cap England man has enjoyed the best season of his career so far in front of goal. In 49 appearances across all competitions, he has racked up 7 goals and 10 assists.
Rice has now set his sights on becoming the best box-to-box midfielder in the world. Based on the progress he has made at Arsenal so far, few would bet against him going on to achieve exactly that.