Arsenal could soon have the modern Cesc Fabregas on their hands – Our View

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According to The Times, Declan Rice is Arsenal’s number one midfield target heading into the summer transfer window.

The Gunners are looking to give their midfield a buff heading into next season as both Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey enter the final stretch of their prime years.

Rice is a talented midfielder, but there are a few questions around how he would fit into this Arsenal team.

The England star has cut his teeth under David Moyes in a team that, with all due respect, doesn’t focus on dominating the ball, and while his defensive work and physicality stands out the most, he also has a great eye for a pass and a brilliant ability to recycle the ball.

In fact, speaking on the Here We Go Show earlier this year, The Telegraph’s Mike McGrath went as far as to compare Rice to Cesc Fabregas.

“I had the privilege of seeing Cesc Fabregas live and Rice reminds me of him, especially in the way he controls midfield,” McGrath said.

“It’s going to take something amazing to get out of West Ham. They desperately want him to stay.

“There are clubs interested but it is going to be very difficult.”

Now, Rice does have a long way to go before he gets anywhere close to Fabregas’ level, but it has to be said that he must have something special about him to earn these comparisons.

In reality, Rice isn’t very much like Fabregas at all. He’s nowhere near as technical and he’s nowhere near as smooth, but he can control a midfield in a similar way to the Spaniard, just by using his physicality rather than his skill.

While Fabregas could tie you in knots with his feet, Rice and run around you infinitely without breaking a sweat, and while those two actions are very different, the end result is the same, retaining possession and progressing play.

Sadly, the game has moved on from players like Fabregas in a lot of ways. Nowadays creativity isn’t all about intricacy and vision, it’s about using your physical strengths to create that sort of space.

Rice could be Arsenal’s modern Fabregas if used in the right way as a midfield orchestrator.