Jamie Carragher has weighed in on the debate that has gathered pace over the opening third of the 2023/24 season between Declan Rice and Rodri. The two defensive midfield players have been key to the early season form of both sides and the Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool defender has given his views on which player he would rather have in his side.
Arsenal and Manchester City look set to be heavily involved in the Premier League title race for the second half of the 2023/24 campaign. Both sides went head-to-head for the 2022/23 crown, but Pep Guardiola's team came out on top as City wrapped up a third successive league trophy.
One of the key differences between the two teams during that run-in was that City had the ever-reliable Rodri putting out fires all over the place. In contrast, the Gunners never had a reliable option that could perform to that standard in front of the back line. This meant that William Saliba's injury was even more costly than it could have been, as Thomas Partey's loss of form exposed the Arsenal defence.
Mikel Arteta decided to take action in the ensuing summer transfer window as Arsenal made Rice one of the most expensive signings in Premier League history in a £105 million deal to see the West Ham captain make the move to North London. That looks to be one of the best moves made by any club in world football - despite the hefty price tag - as the English midfielder looks to have bridged a gap in quality between the challengers and the champions.Jamie Carragher picks Declan Rice over Rodri
Declan Rice
In his column for the Telegraph, Carragher went into the aforementioned debate between the two best defensive midfield players in the Premier League. He labelled Rice as "a bargain for Arsenal," which may initially raise some eyebrows due to the enormous sum of money exchanged for the 24-year-old.
Carragher would justify this comment by explaining: "There are certain players who move for astronomical fees and are almost guaranteed to be successful," citing Roy Keane and Alan Shearer for their moves to Manchester United and Newcastle respectively as examples.
The 45-year-old was full of praise for both men, but he was definitive in his answer regarding which player he would take in his team over the other, saying: "There is no bigger compliment I can give to Rice than this: I would rather have him in my team than Rodri. The Manchester City midfielder has been arguably the best player in the Treble-winning side, alongside Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva, and he scored the winner in the Champions League final. He is a brilliant player, but I would still rather have Rice."
But do the statistics of both players' individual seasons to date back up his decision? We decided to take a look at exactly that.
Comparing Declan Rice and Rodri's statistics in 2023/24
Rodri-Man-City
Using Squawka's comparison matrix tool, GIVEMESPORT has looked into the statistics of both Rice and Rodri to get a better understanding of how each man has performed in the 2023/24 campaign to date. It is important to remember that while Rice has started the first 15 league games of the season, Rodri has been absent for a few games due to the previously mentioned suspensions. Thus, it is only fair to compare the players on a per-90 basis for the most part. See the results below...
Attacking statistics
While neither man's main responsibility within their respective team is to get forward and contribute vast amounts of goals and assists, they do both naturally get the opportunity to have an impact in an attacking sense, as they each represent extremely possession-dominant teams. It isn't where their true value lies, but Rice and Rodri have both managed to score three times with Arsenal's star midfielder grabbing goals against Manchester United, Chelsea, and in a dramatic late win against Luton Town.
Rodri scored a similar late winner against a newly-promoted side in the form of Sheffield United and also netted against Burnley and Chelsea.
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