Mikel Arteta’s decision to spend a club-record £105million on Rice has been quickly vindicated with his midfield linchpin delivering a series of outstanding displays at the heart of Arsenal’s engine room.
The Gunners, who currently sit top of the table following Tuesday’s dramatic win over Luton, now look set to challenge for the title again and Ferdinand has been left to contemplate the transformative effect Rice would’ve had on his old club.
Following United’s 2-1 win over Chelsea last night, Ferdinand told Vibe with Five: ‘Declan Rice, I said it before Man Utd he was the player I would’ve 100% gone and got.
‘You could argue there’s midfielders with more ability than him but I would argue that it’s only Jude Bellingham that comes near him in terms of being able to get into a dressing room and trying to get control of that dressing room and get the respect of that dressing room on day two, three, four, straight away.
‘Not only with performances and standards and helping with the culture and the environment but the attitude and the likeability factor, the respect factor that he would get straight away.
‘That’s why I thought he more than anybody it was important that Man United should’ve gone and got and they allowed Arsenal to go and get him.’Last night’s win over Chelsea, meanwhile, eased the pressure on Erik ten Hag following Saturday’s defeat at Newcastle and the United boss insisted his side’s display was evidence enough to suggest there is no crisis.
Ten Hag said: “Crisis? Not for us. We keep calm, look at the process where we know where we have to build. We are going in the right direction.
‘We don’t get distracted (by) criticism around us, but we are very critical on ourselves. We are not quickly satisfied and happy, we always want to do better. We have to improve a lot if we want to be successful – but this team is capable of being successful.’
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