“This year Declan has to change that” : Yaya Toure provides key difference between Rodri and Declan Rice
Over the past few seasons, the debate around the best defensive midfielder has sparked up a lot more than it used to. Defensive midfielders or pivots have been sighted as the key difference makers for a team to succeed in the overall season. In the Premier League; Amadou Onana, Casemiro, Thomas Partey, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez are some of the heavyweights in this category, with Arsenal’s Declan Rice and Manchester City’s Rodri seen as the frontrunners.
Declan Rice has been outed as one of the best signings the Gunners have made since a long time, as the Englishman has performed consistently well and has helped the team both offensively and defensively. But the North London club were still unsuccessful in achieving their goal of winning the league title even with the services of the Englishman, due to the dominance that has been portrayed by Pep Guardiola in the recent years.
On the other hand, Manchester City’s defensive midfielder Rodri, is currently far and away the best player in the league and possibly even the world. The Spainard is one of the favorites to win this year’s Ballon d’or, and a podium finish is all but guaranteed.
Due to this, the Gunners and Mikel Arteta have been facing criticism where fans are wanting the same output from Rice as the Euros MVP has been providing City since the past three seasons. Recently, one of the greatest defensive midfielders and former City player Yaya Toure spoke his mind about this topic.
Yaya Toure compares Rice to himself and explains why Rodri has an edge over the Englishman
To be fair to Declan Rice, the Spanish midfielder currently has an edge over all players at the moment. The 28-year-old has been performing at a level previously seen only from the great Sergio Busquets, who is widely regarded as the greatest ever in this position. But still, the Manchester City legend gave the Englishman the benefit of the doubt while addressing his situation and what changes need to be made.
“Declan Rice reminds me of myself because I think he has the capacity, the ability, the physical ability as well. To do it week in week out is difficult and very demanding but he can do it. He needs to be in a winning team because the team that wins the league has the best players,” said Toure (via Futbin.com).
“He’s competing with Rodri. You can’t underestimate Rodri for what he’s done and what he’s achieved with Man City and now with Spain. He’s a good player. He’s a competitor. Those two are there but Rodri has been winning more trophies than Declan. This year Declan has to change that. Winning trophies makes the difference,” the former Barcelona midfielder added.
The former Ivory Coast midfielder has a point, as the amount of trophies won by the Spaniard with club and country cannot be fathomed by Declan Rice at the moment. Yaya Toure also explained the difference between the Spanish and English internationals, and says Rice is doing what he himself used to do, while Rodri focuses more on passing, stopping counter attacks and slowing down the game.
“When you look at the details of Declan’s game in terms of winning the ball, running with the ball, going forward and dribbling, even assists. Declan is looking like what I was doing before. Trying to assist and dribble. Rodri is more build-up, reading the game very well, stopping counter attacks, passing. That’s the difference between them,” the 41-year-old explained.
Although lately, the Spanish midfielder has also contributed in many key goal contributions which has led to important trophies with Manchester City. Rodri also bested the whole of England’s midfield, including Rice, in the first half of the final of this year’s Euros.
It is quite clear that Declan Rice is currently not at the level of the Spaniard. But by making a few changes and being deployed in a different manner, and we could very well see the best of the 25-year-old under Mikel Arteta’s side this season.
