Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand believes Arsenal’s Declan Rice has matched Jude Bellingham’s performances since the latter arrived at Real Madrid.
Both English midfielders secured blockbuster moves ahead of the start of the 2023-24 campaign. Bellingham was bought for a reported €103 million from Borussia Dortmund, while Rice arrived at Arsenal from West Ham for £105 million.
Since then, Rice has contributed with seven goals and 10 assists from a deep-lying midfield role. On the other hand, Bellingham has enjoyed a more advanced position in the Real Madrid line-up and has bagged 22 goals and 10 assists across competitions.
Speaking about Rice’s performances, Ferdinand said (via Football 365):
“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,” he added.
Rice has also shown versatility this season, playing the No. 6 role when called upon by manager Mikel Arteta and operating as a box-to-box midfielder. He’s been used in the latter position in recent times for Arsenal.
Harry Kane picks Arsenal’s Declan Rice and Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham as his most hardworking teammates
Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane claims England teammates Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice are some of the attacker’s most hard-working colleagues on the football pitch.
Kane has played 22 matches with Bellingham for the country, managing three joint goal contributions, while having appeared alongside Rice on 47 occasions.
When asked for an answer on which of his teammates tracks up the furthest distance in a match, the former Tottenham Hotspur man said (via The Boot Room):
“I’m going to go with Declan or Jude.”
Both players have done exceedingly well throughout the season and are likely to partner with each other in the England midfield when they enter the Euros this summer.
