Darren Bent admits he has changed his mind about Declan Rice after watching him at Arsenal 

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What a season Declan Rice is having in Arsenal colours!

The 24-year-old arrived in the summer with so much hype and expectations on his shoulders because he was a player Arsenal fans very much craved.

That’s why the powers that be at the Emirates backed Mikel Arteta by breaking their club-record transfer for the West Ham United captain.

Darren Bent has admitted that Declan Rice is ‘better than I thought’ after watching him last season compared to this campaign, as he told talkSPORT (05/03/24 at 4:15 pm).

Thomas Partey, who has been injured for large parts of this current campaign, was the main defensive brain in the middle of the park for the team.

He was a key figure and there were many debates as to who was better – The Ghana star or the England international.

Well, Darren Bent has changed his mind on it all because he now feels it’s Declan Rice who is the better player.

How good is Declan Rice?

“But having Declan Rice in there,” said Bent. “He is one of those players for Arsenal where you sit back and think ‘it will always be alright because he is there’.

“We won’t win every game, but we stand more of a chance by having him in the middle of the park. He has been outstanding, but that’s what £100 million gets you.

“Yeah, he is better than I thought. Last season, if you had asked me, who was better, Partey or him? I would have said Partey. For 3/4 of the season, he was unbelievable.”

Declan Rice and Thomas Partey

The latter hasn’t been fit enough for Arteta to possibly play the duo together, and when he was at the start of the campaign, he was playing at right-back.

As the games pile up for Arsenal, including in the Champions League, it’s going to be interesting to see how Arteta deploys these two players.

Will he go to a place like the Etihad and lock up the midfield by playing Partey and Rice together?

That would be some defensive wall, on top of the centre-back duo behind them, but either way, Arteta now has options and a very important player to pick from.