It's no secret that Arsenal want to sign Declan Rice from West Ham this summer. After watching his display for England against Italy, it's easy to see why.
In many ways the Three Lions' 2-1 victory in Naples was a perfect summation of the many strings that Rice has to his bow. The 24-year-old may have grabbed the attention for his opening goal, but it was the rest of his display that would have most pleased Mikel Arteta.
During the first half England largely had control of possession. Key to this was Rice at the base of the midfield. The West Ham midfielder completed 35 of his 37 passes (as per Wyscout) ensuring that Gareth Southgate's side were able to stay on top.
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Perhaps most interesting from an Arsenal perspective were the positions he took up while doing so. On several occasions, Rice would look to drop deep, sometimes even between John Stones and Harry Maguire before distributing possession. This is very similar to the areas of the pitch that Thomas Partey tends to occupy for the Gunners when they are in build up. When playing from the back, Rice also tended to favour playing passes to the right side of the pitch, much like Partey does when linking up with Ben White in an Arsenal shirt. This is an area of Rice's game that seems to be getting better game by game, and is one that he is certainly enjoying.
“Every time I put on the shirt, I just want to play well and I’m really lucky I have got a stable back four behind me who love playing and passing the ball to me," he told reporters after the match. “So I think it’s something I can still keep definitely improving and keep dictating the play. I had a lot of touches on the ball, and I loved it."
The defensive midfield role at Arsenal is two-fold though. As much as Arteta wants a player capable of setting the tempo from deep, he also wants a player who can intervene defensively to stop attacks. The Spaniard often talks about how his team need to "suffer" together, and as England were forced to drop deeper on Thursday night after Harry Maguire gifted Italy a route back into the game, Rice once again stood up.
“I think we showed that side to us that maybe England sides haven’t shown over the years, that desire, that willingness to defend, block shots, defend crosses and it was a real solid performance in the end,” Rice said reflecting on the display. Those words would be music to Arteta's ears, and the stats behind them make for pretty good reading too.
The 24-year-old completed all of his defensive duels (four out of four), recovered the ball 14 times and made an impressive eight interceptions. This is a part of his game where Rice generally excels. fbRef has him in the 96th percentile for interceptions per90 by midfielders this year in Europe's top five leagues. He also has an impressive tackle record. Interestingly though, his best area on the pitch for tackling is in the defensive third, where he ranks in the 82nd percentile. Throw him into the Arsenal side and it's safe to assume that he'll be making those tackles higher up the pitch given that Partey is currently in the 93rd percentile for tackles in the final third (as per fbRef). Reiss Nelson has revealed in the past how Arteta tries to implement a "basketball rule" at Arsenal were players are encouraged to win the ball higher up the pitch. Rice would certainly help with this.
Many assumed with the January signing of Jorginho, that Rice was being brought in as a potential long-term successor to Granit Xhaka in the left eight role. The West Ham midfielder certainly has the athleticism to play that role, but with his performances in an England shirt it's easy to see how he could end up as a six too. Regardless of what position he does play in the 24-year-old looks as though he would be a fantastic addition to the Gunners midfield and bolster their chances of competing in both the Premier League and Champions League next season. Now it's over to Edu to try and get the deal over the line.
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