Declan Rice has revealed which legendary Premier League star he would have loved to play with in an interview with Joe Cole.
Rice – who joined Arsenal from West Ham for £105m last summer – has become one of the leading defensive midfielders in the Premier League in recent seasons.
The England international has also become a prominent member of Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions, formed as a result of his change in status both domestically and on the continent.
The prospect of facing Rice is a formidable enough prospect in itself, but the former West Ham skipper revealed who he would have liked to play against when he popped the question to fellow ex-Hammer Cole.
Rice was quick to extol the virtues of two specific football legends from England and the Premier League, but ultimately found himself on one side of a fence that has proven excellent for debate over the past decade.
Arsenal’s record signing Declan Rice was asked which player he would like to have alongside him
He selected a former England midfielder who is widely regarded as one of the best of all time in his position
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“I’m going for Stevie G (Steven Gerrard),” the Arsenal midfielder admitted.
‘Obviously he and Lamps (Frank Lampard) are always compared. I could say Lamps. I love Lamps as a player!
“But Stevie GI doesn’t know that there’s just something about him, like the way he stands on the field. He just turns into an animal, and I feel like we would complement each other well.
‘He can do everything, he can run into the box, he can tackle, he can pass, he can dictate the game, to play with him and see how he plays would be special.’
Gerrard and Lampard have largely split the debate over who is the greatest English midfielder of all time, with both usually ranking fairly highly in the same discourse for the Premier League.
The duo – who probably never quite managed to perfect their partnership for their country – are also often mentioned alongside Paul Scholes.
Between Gerrard and Lampard, the two played together 71 times, 70 of which were for the England team.
In the latest episode of Mail Sport’s It’s All Kicking Off, Chris Sutton outlined his own top five Premier League midfielders of all time, with Gerrard perhaps controversially not even making the list.
Rice believes Steven Gerrard was ‘a beast’ on the pitch and the two would complement each other
Rice admitted he was a big fan of Lampard as a player but went along with his old rival
Gerrard currently manages Al-Ettifaq in the Saudi Pro League after being sacked by Aston Villa last season
“Patrick Vieira at five,” he said. ‘I mean exactly the way he put forward that Arsenal team, the best Arsenal team I have ever seen in my life.
‘He had everything: brilliant leadership, he was strong, he was robust. He picked up players around him, but he would be in at five o’clock.
‘Frank Lampard on four, his numbers, the goals he scored. Lots of fines. Also many 30 meters. Also big goals, a big game player. So he would be my number four.”
De Bruyne came in at number three, just below Roy Keane, but there was no room for Steven Gerrard and N’Golo Kante.
Sutton picked his top five Premier League midfielders on the It’s All Kicking Off podcast
Paul Scholes, who won 11 league titles with United, topped Sutton’s list of all-time best midfielders in the league
‘My number one would be Paul Scholes. I mean, what couldn’t he do?
‘And people talk about De Bruyne. I think Scholes was as good as De Bruyne in terms of passing range, skill and awareness.
‘He was perhaps stronger in the tackle than Kevin De Bruyne. But I mean, it’s so hard to choose. But if you look at Paul Scholes’ numbers, I think he has won 11 Premier Leagues.
‘De Bruyne is nowhere near that at the moment. He (Scholes) went back to Manchester United (after initially retiring) and won things too. He was such a phenomenal player.”