Declan Rice has continued to impress during his time at West Ham United where his stock has only risen with clubs across England and abroad alerted to the former Chelsea youngster’s senior talents. Arsenal look best positioned to secure the midfielder in this window.
football.london understands that a bid beyond £90million is expected to be made for Rice. Looking into the Hammers’ captain further, it becomes clear why Mikel Arteta is so intent on making him the club’s record signing and believing he is the man to elevate his Arsenal side beyond their impressive title run last season.
football.london has taken a look at the five most surprising and impressive statistics from Rice’s 2022/23 season which has seen him top charts, and battle with some of the league’s best. From minutes played to expert game-reading, Rice makes it obvious why he is Arsenal’s priority signing.
Minutes played
Arsenal are a side that has been let down by injury almost every single season of their participation in the Premier League. Last year was no different with William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu’s season-ending afflictions seriously denting and eventually ending the club’s title hopes.
Looking at Rice’s minutes played last season according to the Premier League stats, the West Ham skipper recorded an impressive 3272 minutes, the 17th highest of the hundreds of players in England’s top flight. Only Aaron Ramsdale (3420) and Gabriel Magalhaes (3411) tallied more minutes than Rice from an Arsenal perspective highlighting his reliability and availability.
Interceptions
Arguably the most important and impressive statistic of them all is Rice’s interceptions. He was the only player in the entire Premier League to make it past 60 interceptions and ended the campaign with a total of 63.
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His nearest competitor was another Arsenal target Moises Caicedo who, along with Cheick Doucoure Idrissa Gueye, recorded 56 assists. Rice’s in-game management is fantastic, he reads the game so well and that shows in his turnover of possession through intercepting which Arsenal would benefit from greatly.
Tackling dribblers and recoveries
When it comes to getting the ball past Rice, players need to get creative because he is something of a brick wall. When looking at the percentage of dribblers tackled, according to FBRef, Rice performs at a 62% success rate, which is in the 96th percentile of midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues.
It doesn’t end there, however, because Rice only loses 0.52 challenges per 90. This means again he ranks in the 96th percentile for challenges lost compared to his peers, one of the lowest in the top five leagues.
Lastly for the defensive side, and most standout of all, Rice’s ball recoveries per 90 of 9.18 is in the 99th percentile. He truly is one of, if not, the best in this arena.
Passes completed
Rice is also in the top ten in terms of passes played. Despite playing for a side like West Ham United who have battled relegation and been on the back foot, Rice has been a focal point under David Moyes and has great trust from his teammates.
He ended the season having made the tenth most passes of any Premier League player, 2083. Only one Arsenal player managed more which was Gabriel Magalhães on 2396.
Pass variety
Not only the frequency of passes has Rice impressed in but when it comes to the long (over 30 yards) and medium (Between 15 and 30 yards) pass distances his accuracy ranks as one of the best in Europe’s top five leagues. Arsenal could use the talents of a player who can switch play and find accurate passes to their teammates in space.
For long passes, Rice’s 6.13 per 90 ranked in the 83rd percentile according to FBRef for midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues from the past year. This gets even better for the medium distance passing which the 24-year-old managed 20.21 per 90 but in regards to his accuracy of these passes (93.2%) he ranked in the 95th percentile.
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