Arsenal news - Declan Rice has taken a shot at Roy Keane in the duo's jokingly back-and-forth disagreements over his impact in the final third
Declan Rice has jokingly referenced Roy Keane while discussing his EAFC 24 rating with England team-mates Jude Bellingham, Marcus Rashford and James Maddison. Earlier this year, when Rice was still at West Ham and being linked with a big summer move, the former Manchester United midfielder delved into the areas of his game that needed improving.
"He doesn’t score enough goals and he doesn’t get enough assists," Kean boldly admitted in March 2023. "Listen I’ve been a fan of him, he turns up every week there's talk of him going for big money and going to one of the big clubs and playing in the Champions League he needs to do a lot more. It’s as simple as that."
In the weeks following, Rice went on to score crucial goals for the Hammers against Bournemouth and in the Europa Conference League against Gent. He also netted an important goal for England in the 2-1 European Championship qualifying win against Italy.
Following his £105million move to Arsenal, Rice has impressed in the opening games and he delivered his best moment since signing in the 3-1 win against Manchester United. With the game level at 1-1, Rice converted Bukayo Saka's corner in added time to put the Gunners in front, before Gabriel Jesus rounded off the victory shortly after.
While the jibes certainly appear in good faith, Rice couldn't help but take another one at the Irishman when finding out his shooting stats for EAFC 24. In a video posted to England's YouTube channel, Rice was joined by Rashford, Maddison and Bellingham with all four trying to guess the England players card by slowly revealing specific stats one at a time.
When it came to Rice's card, Bellingham was able to guess correctly having only just learned his dribbling and physicality stat. Once the full card was revealed, Rice's 65 shooting left everyone confused with the 24-year-old jokingly admitting, "Roy Keane is buzzing."
Bellingham then went on to explain why he thought Rice's 75 passing stat was too low. "I feel like with passing it's a certain types of passes that get you higher. Like line-breakers, they don't really give you them, you're a line-breaker."
Arsenal have returned to the Champions League after a six year absence - and confidence is high Mikel Arteta’s men can make a genuine run to the final at Wembley.