Declan Rice has been transformed into an attacking force

Often pigeonholed as the quintessential deep-lying playmaker, Arsenal’s £100m man is fast proving there are far more strings to his bow

Declan Rice always knew he had more to offer. As long ago as March 2021, he was trying to tell the world that he had the ability to produce a regular flow of goals and assists, to be so much more than a shuttling defensive midfield player.
“I think a lot of people see me as a simple, basic player,” he said three years ago. “A player who gets it, gives it and protects the back four. But I know, my team-mates know and the manager knows what I have got in my locker. I want to show people I can be exciting.”
Eight months into his Arsenal career, playing in a team who have scored more goals than any other in this season’s Premier League, Rice is now delivering on that attacking potential. In recent weeks the England midfielder has been unleashed by Mikel Arteta, told to push forward and threaten the opposition. It is a different role, and one in which he is thriving.
Against Brentford on Saturday, Rice was the most advanced Arsenal player on the pitch when he scored the powerful header that gave Arteta’s side the lead. It was his sixth goal of the season, which means this is the most prolific campaign of his career, and his third in his past six appearances.
It is not just goals that Rice is producing. He is creating chances, too, and has four assists since he was given set-piece responsibilities in January. Then there are the driving runs, when he picks up the ball, slips through the gears and blasts through the open spaces in the opposition midfield.
In his younger years, Rice would study players such as Yaya Toure and Patrick Vieira; all-conquering midfielders who could do it all. At West Ham United, he showed glimpses of this athletic potential and running power, but usually had to be measured in his approach. His defensive duties always came first.
In recent matches for Arsenal, however, Rice has had the freedom to roam. In large part, this is because Jorginho, the great maestro of Arteta’s squad, has sat at the base of the midfield. Rice’s willingness to push forward is also a reflection of Arsenal’s dominance of games, with the opposing team forced deep into their own half. In this eight-match winning streak in the league, Arsenal have averaged 65 per cent of possession.
Rice’s attacking evolution is taking place at some pace. Across the past three league matches, he has taken 13 touches in the opposition penalty area. In Arsenal’s five previous league games in 2024, he took a combined total of one touch in the opposition penalty area. This is a player who is rapidly, and thrillingly from Arsenal’s perspective, becoming a different force.
Overall this season, Rice has now contributed 12 goal involvements (six goals, six assists). His previous best return across a full campaign was nine, which he achieved in each of his last two years at West Ham. Rice joined Arsenal because he believed Arteta could take him to new levels and, so far, he is being proved right.
None of this is to say that he will be a box-to-box titan every week. Rice’s primary position is still the defensive midfield role, and that is still the area of the pitch in which he feels most comfortable. With Jorginho playing so intelligently, though, and Rice now thriving in the final third, there is no need for Arteta to change the shape of his side.
In his current “No 8” position, Rice can prove himself to be a complete player. Part-defensive midfielder, part-creative playmaker and, as he showed with his goals against Brentford and Sheffield United, part-striker. When you consider that he is also a back-up option at centre-back (he played there in the Champions League this season) it is not hard to see why Arsenal considered him worth £105 million.
For months, it has been clear that Rice is a game-changer for Arsenal. What is perhaps more intriguing, and perhaps even more exciting for Rice, is that this club are now proving to be game-changing for him. He is developing in front of our eyes, evolving in his style and demonstrating an attacking ferocity that has been waiting for years to emerge.