Danny Murphy has said that one Manchester City player is better than Declan Rice.
During the previous summer transfer window, City had a £90m bid for Rice rejected by West Ham United before he eventually made his way to Arsenal in a deal worth £105m.
Having now brought an end to his debut season with the Gunners, the Englishman has found himself being compared to one particular City player who he could’ve been sharing the pitch with had he moved to the Etihad Stadium last summer.
Murphy says Man City star is better than Rice
Speaking on talkSPORT, Murphy had this to say about Rice and how he compares to Rodri.
He said: “He’s not as comfortable as Rodri on the ball. He’s very good on the ball, he’s very reliable, Declan, but he’s not [as good as Rodri].
“I prefer him in the role he’s playing for Arsenal at the minute, I think he’s been magnificent.
“He can do the other role brilliantly and he’ll have to for England and he’s super reliable, but Rodri’s ability on the ball in tight areas is better.”
Rodri vs Rice
Across the recent Premier League campaign, Rodri made more successful take-ons (42 vs 21) than Rice and miscontrolled the ball on fewer occasions than him (23 vs 31).
This backs up Murphy’s point about the Spaniard being better on the ball in tight areas than the Gunners star.
In addition to that, the City star made more key passes (49 vs 47), carries into the final third of the pitch (88 vs 70) and recoveries (235 vs 178) than the England International.
For their overall performances throughout the campaign, Rodri earned himself a season rating of 7.62/10 from WhoScored, which is superior to Rice’s rating of 7.38/10.
While both midfielders have had strong season, we agree with Murphy that Rodri is better than Rice in terms of his technical ability on the ball.
