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Rio Ferdinand annoyed after what he’s heard being said about Arsenal’s Declan Rice at Euro 2024
Rio Ferdinand has hit out at what he has heard said about Declan Rice with the Arsenal star one of the players to struggle for England at Euro 2024.
Declan Rice went into the tournament looking set to be one of the star men for Gareth Southgate’s side as they looked to take that final step which proved to be just a little too big for them three years ago.
Of course, England could still get there, and the Arsenal record signing still has time to establish himself as one of the players of the tournament in Germany. But there is no question that England fans need to see a big improvement from their team.
Rice had one of his worst games for England against Denmark last time out. And with England toiling, there have been discussions about whether big changes are needed if the Three Lions are going to go far.
Rio Ferdinand hits out at what he’s heard about Declan Rice
One of the questions put to Rio Ferdinand on was whether Rice would be able to play as a lone six in the midfield, with the Trent Alexander-Arnold experiment seemingly not working.
It is safe to say that Ferdinand sees no reason at all why Rice could not play in that position on his own.
“He played every game until maybe the last eight, nine, 10 games of the season other than that, he was playing in the six, and everyone was raving about him. Everyone was saying we don’t hear about the £100 million price-tag, right,” he said.
“I didn’t hear no one digging him out about oh, he can’t receive the ball on the half-turn and he can’t play the ball through. He might not be a Busquets, he might not be maybe the way Rodri can play the ball through, but don’t tell me he can’t receive the ball off the back-four. If that was the case, we would have been saying that all season. No one said that.”
The good news for England
The good news for Southgate and England is that they have now officially qualified for the knockout stages ahead of their final group game with Slovenia, so they have a little more freedom to try one or two things.
Of course, they will want to make a statement with a victory, but England are no longer a side looking to get to the quarter-finals and see what happens. They are going to have to beat some of the best sides if they are going to meet expectations.
Perhaps pushing Jude Bellingham back into midfield alongside Rice and bringing another attacking-minded player into the side makes the most sense.
Certainly, most countries in the tournament would give anything to have a midfield consisting of the Arsenal and Real Madrid stars.