Graeme Souness Critiques Declan Rice’s Midfield Role

Graeme Souness has launched a ferocious critique of Declan Rice, accusing Arsenal’s £105 million man of “old man’s football” and insisting he is not a complete midfielder despite hailing him as the best defensive anchor in England.

The former Liverpool captain used Arsenal’s recent 2-1 win over Chelsea as his reference point, arguing on Piers Morgan’s Football Uncensored show that Rice spends far too much time playing as an auxiliary defender in the build-up.

“He plays too deep to affect the game”

Souness repeatedly came back to Rice’s positioning when Arsenal have the ball.

“How many times do you see him as the last man with the ball,” he told Morgan. “In the build-up, he's last man. He's sitting between two centre-halves or between the centre-half and the full-back. He's last man. A lot of the time, he doesn't play in midfield.”

For Souness, that habit strips away what a top midfielder should be doing.

“In my second or third home game (of my career), I went into the back four like all midfield players do today. It's old man's football. It's cheating. An old man's way of playing midfield. You get the ball under no pressure and you play it out to the full-back.”

The Scot did not dispute Rice’s defensive pedigree. He actually went out of his way to underline it.

“He (Rice) plays too deep to affect the game,” he continued. “I don't think he's got enough football. Let me tell you what he can do. He's the best defensive midfielder in the country right now, he smells danger. But then again, he's back there all the time.”

“Maybe he’s a centre-half”

From there, Souness pushed the argument even further, suggesting Rice’s natural game might belong in a different line altogether.

“He's not a midfield player then is he? I think he may be a centre-half. The ball travels faster than you do. I see him run with the ball 30 yards and pass it square. He's a lovely kicker of the ball and opens his body up well, there's nothing to dislike about him.”

The praise, though, came with a sting. Souness framed Rice as technically sound but short of the all-round quality he expects from an elite modern midfielder.

“But modern players are a bit precious. Criticism doesn't fall easily on these (players') shoulders. He isn't the complete midfield player.”

Not in the same bracket as Europe’s elite

When the conversation turned to Rice’s supposed world-class status, Souness shut it down.

“I'm not sure if he gets in Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Man City,” he remarked. “If you want the best in that position, City had two of them - Fernandinho and Rodri. They played in midfield.”

He urged viewers to study Rice closely during games to see what he means.

“Next time, please watch him. He goes in and gets it cheap under no pressure, a 10-yard pass off Gabriel, and passes it sideways.”

To Souness, that pattern of collecting the ball unchallenged from the backline and shifting it on simply doesn’t belong in the same conversation as the very best holding midfielders in Europe.

Blame for England’s World Cup collapse

Souness then widened his criticism to the international stage, holding Rice partly responsible for England’s World Cup semi-final exit to Argentina in the summer.

“When England went one-nil up against Argentina, they s*** themselves. 'Oh, what do we do now?' And I put that down to Declan Rice and [Elliot] Anderson as the central midfield players in the engine room,” he claimed. “They didn't get them playing. They went back in held hands with the back four.”

For Souness, that was the clearest example yet of his core argument: when the pressure rises and control in midfield is everything, Rice retreats rather than dictates.

It leaves a stark question hanging over Arsenal’s record signing and England’s midfield cornerstone: is he the foundation of a modern elite side, or a high-class defender playing one line too high?