Declan Rice: Arsenal's Key Player in Premier League Triumph
Declan Rice has spent the last two seasons dragging standards upwards at Arsenal. The Premier League trophy is back in north London for the first time in 22 years, and his fingerprints are all over it. That kind of impact inevitably sparks bigger conversations.
Golden Ball. Ballon d’Or. Best player on the planet. His name is starting to be whispered in those circles.
Rice arrived at Emirates Stadium in 2023 with the weight of a then British record £105 million fee on his shoulders. It has barely seemed to trouble him. West Ham’s finest export walked into Mikel Arteta’s midfield and immediately became the heartbeat of a side ready to grow up, to stop talking about potential and actually win.
He has been almost ever-present, the metronome and the muscle in an Arsenal engine room that finally found the right balance. For a club searching for the final pieces of a complex title-winning puzzle, Rice has looked like one of the missing parts.
Now the conversation stretches beyond north London. England, starved of major honours for 60 years, head to North America this summer with renewed hope that Rice can become their good-luck charm as well. A global crown with the Three Lions would do more than end a national wait; it would catapult him up the Ballon d’Or rankings, especially after the sting of Champions League final disappointment with his club.
Yet not everyone is ready to anoint him.
Robbie Fowler, a former England striker and Liverpool icon, knows what it takes to operate around the very top. When the comparison with another Anfield great, Steven Gerrard, is raised, Fowler draws a clear line.
“I like Declan Rice,” he says, before steering straight into the debate that refuses to go away. Rice and Gerrard. The modern midfield enforcer against the old standard.
“I think when we talk about Declan Rice and how good he is, you compare him, obviously, to the likes of Stevie G. If I'm being honest, I don't think he's Steven's level. That's not me being all Liverpool.”
It’s a blunt assessment, but not a dismissive one. Fowler has watched Rice closely since that seismic move to Arsenal and sees clear evolution.
“I think Declan Rice, since he's gone to Arsenal, he has become a more complete player. But I don't think he's the level that Steven Gerrard is just yet. Look, Steven Gerrard never won the Ballon d'Or.”
That last line matters. Gerrard, who dragged Liverpool through Istanbul in 2005 and finished third in the Ballon d’Or that year, never got his hands on the Golden Ball. If that version of Gerrard couldn’t, where does that leave Rice right now?
“It is what it is in terms of his performances,” Fowler continues. “He's been great for Arsenal and he's obviously gone up a notch. But I think he needs to go up another notch, if I'm being genuine in terms of his performances.
“It does sound like I'm having a little bit of a go, but I'm not. I think Declan Rice is a fantastic player, but I don't think he's on the realms of the Ballon d'Or list just yet.”
The numbers back up that caution. In the 2025 Ballon d’Or vote, Rice slipped in at 27th. Respectable, but hardly the territory reserved for the game’s dominant forces. At that point, he had no major club silverware to strengthen his case, only the admiration of those who watched him weekly and the sense that something big was building.
That “something” has now arrived in the shape of a Premier League title. Rice played a central role as Arsenal finally broke through, and he came agonisingly close to helping them complete a historic double. The margins at the top are brutal. One more trophy, one more decisive night, and the narrative shifts again.
For now, his medal collection finally has a domestic crown. His reputation has moved from “expensive signing” to “indispensable leader”. The next chapter takes him away from club colours and into the white of England.
The Kingston upon Thames native has never been one to overstate his own brilliance. By all accounts, he would be the first to admit he is not yet at Gerrard’s level. That honesty is part of his appeal. So is his refusal to shy away from the challenge of getting there.
Rice has climbed quickly, but Fowler’s verdict underlines a harsh truth: the summit is higher still. To enter the true Ballon d’Or conversation, he will need more nights that define seasons, more trophies that define eras.
The stage in North America offers exactly that. The question now is simple: can Declan Rice turn influence into dominance and force his way onto a Golden Ball podium that has always felt reserved for football’s most ruthless match-winners?
