‘Nowhere near’… Steve Sidwell says 24-year-old Arsenal player doesn’t come close to £63m Man City man

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Declan Rice has been one of the better players in the Premier League this season.

Barring the last month or so, the midfielder has barely put a foot wrong for Arsenal since signing for the club from West Ham in the summer.

Rice is certainly in the argument for the best holding midfielder in the division, but according to Steve Sidwell, the Arsenal ace doesn’t quite claim that title just yet.

Indeed, according to the pundit, speaking on Peter Crouch’s podcast, Manchester City’s Rodri is much better than Rice, and Sidwell thinks that the player himself would admit that.

Rodri better than Rice

Sidwell shared his verdict on the two players.

“I love Dec, I love Dec, and he is one who I would love to get on the Podcast, but he is nowhere near Rodri yet, and I think he you asked Dec he’d say that he’s not there yet. Rodri is a Rolls Royce,” Sidwell said.

No contest

As much as Rice is a talented footballer, there’s really no contest to be had here.

Rodri is just on another level.

He’s a truly world-class talent, and he steps up in the biggest of games to win the biggest of trophies.

With all due respect to Rice, he’s not at that level yet.

Rice’s form has tailed off over the past month or so just as Arsenal needed to kick on, and, in contrast, Rodri has improved as City needed to step up the gears.

These two are undoubtedly a pair of the best midfielders in the Premier League, but, in our view, there’s no debate around who the better player is at the moment, the £63m man is ahead of Rice, and when all is said and done, he may even go down as the best holding midfield player this league has ever seen.