Declan Rice has responded after Graeme Souness claimed the England midfielder is "cheating" and playing "old man's football". The Arsenal player, widely considered among the finest midfielders in world football, was criticised by the Liverpool legend for playing more like a centre-half.
Souness criticism on Piers Morgan Uncensored
Souness said on Piers Morgan Uncensored: "A lot of the time, he doesn't play in midfield. I think he may be a centre-half. He's back there all the time. It's old man's football. It's cheating. An old man's way of playing midfield."
Rice, who helped Arsenal to win their first title in 22 years and was key to England's run to the World Cup semi-finals in July, said: "For a centre-back, I think my numbers are not bad! My numbers since I joined Arsenal speak for themselves. I think I've had a lot of assists, a lot of goals and to be a top-class centre-back getting those numbers I'm delighted with that!"
Rice responds to Souness remarks
Rice said: "Look, Graeme's got his opinion. I think he's had his opinion probably since my West Ham days, if I'm being honest with you. But it's one of them things. As an ex-pro you're going to have an opinion on something. I've seen his views. I can't change his opinion. I can only do what I do, which is go on the pitch, perform, play well and block out the noise."
He added: "I can't really say much because he was way before my time ... I didn't really get to see Graeme as a player. Obviously I know him as a pundit. So I'm sure if I met him in person there would be no disrespect there. I'd shake his hand. I'd chat with him. Yeah, it doesn't matter. It's an opinion at the end of the day. It's football."
England's Nations League showdown with Spain
Rice also referenced Harry Kane in his defence of his positioning: "Look, if you speak about, as you said, the positioning and old man's football, look at Harry Kane. We played him the other week against Bayern Munich, he dropped next to the centre-backs 20-30 times in the game to pick up the ball. The game's different now."
Rice, set to earn his 82nd cap, is expected to play a key role in England's all-or-nothing Nations League clash with Spain in Madrid on Sunday evening. He said: "This is massive. You are going away to the Metropolitano, playing the world champions in a game to see who can top the group. I don't think it can get any bigger than that. We have a massive motive to win the group, to beat Spain, as the away team would be a massive thing for us. Already, the mindset is in a really good place, the manager's messaging has been really good so we need to go there and put on a performance."
