Ian Wright completely disagrees after what he’s heard about Arsenal star Declan Rice

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Arsenal legend Ian Wright has hit back at Jill Scott after what she said about Declan Rice.

The Gunners midfielder was a part of the England squad that fell just short of winning Euro 2024. The Three Lions suffered a heartbreaking defeat against Spain in the final.

Rice, like most of his teammates, wasn’t at his absolute best at the Euros, but he didn’t have a bad tournament by any means. He was actually one of England’s better players.

However, the Arsenal midfielder doesn’t always get the credit he deserves.

What Ian Wright and Jill Scott disagreed about regarding Declan Rice

Rice played every minute of every game for England at Euro 2024.

The Englishman started at the base of midfield and Gareth Southgate viewed him as a hugely important player. However, he has come under a lot of criticism.

Rafael van der Vaart called Rice ‘useless’ following his performance in the final of the competition against Spain on Sunday.

That is very harsh, especially as Rice topped the chart in one key metric – he covered more distance than any other player in the entire competition – 74.9 kilometres (Athletic).

However, in the latest episode of Stick to Football, Scott made an interesting claim. When Gary Neville asked who had the best engine at Euro 2024 and suggested N’Golo Kante, Jill quickly agreed.

“He has got the best engine in the game,” she said.

Wright named Rice but was initially sceptical about whether the Arsenal man had covered more distance than the France midfielder.

Roy Keane then revealed that Rice topped the charts in terms of distance covered. After hearing that, Wright immediately backed the former West Ham man as the player with the best engine.

Scott, however, stuck by her initial claim and said: “I think Declan Rice has been brilliant but for an individual game, I think Kante covers more ground.”

Wright completely disagreed. He said: “No, no, no. We can’t say that. If he has the best stats in there, Jill, you can’t just go ‘an individual game’!”

READ MORE: Ian Wright and Roy Keane disagree with what ITV presenter said about Arsenal’s Declan Rice during Euro 2024 final

Declan Rice’s stats at Euro 2024

The criticism Rice has received since the Euro 2024 final is so undeserved.

The Englishman will be the first to admit that he wasn’t at his best, but he was still head and shoulders above many of his teammates.

Rice’s primary job was to protect the defence in every game, and he did that brilliantly. He made zero errors that led to a goal or even a shot.

To add to that, the Arsenal man maintained a fantastic passing accuracy of 92 per cent throughout the tournament while averaging 88.7 touches per game.

Rice also averaged 1.1 interceptions, 2.7 tackles, 1.1 clearances and 5.3 ball recoveries every single game. He produced at least a 7/10 display in every fixture leading up to the final (SofaScore).

A lot has been said about Rice over the last few days, but the fact of the matter is that England would’ve been eliminated much earlier in the campaign if the Arsenal number 41 wasn’t in the middle of their park.