Arsenal No.41 Declan Rice has now revealed that he was left confused by something Roy Keane said about him.

The England international has hardly heard a whisper of criticism this season amid what has been a stunning debut campaign at the Emirates Stadium – following a club record £105m move from West Ham in July.

That is testament to how well the Londoner has performed – as the media usually pounce on anybody who fails to deliver after costing so much money.

However, there was one criticism of Declan Rice from Roy Keane – made before he joined Arsenal – which left the midfield maestro confused…

Declan Rice baffled by Roy Keane criticism

Well, the 25-year-old has now told The Athletic that he was puzzled about critical comments regarding his goal return.

Rice said “no, not really” when asked if he felt that criticism was fair.

The Arsenal No.41 added: “Because Roy Keane, (Graeme) Souness, (Jamie) Redknapp, people that talk about my goalscoring ability, if you looked at their goals, they didn’t score hundreds in their career, but they’re remembered for what they did as midfield players.

“Keane breaking up play, being a hard-tackling midfielder, won loads of titles for United. The same with Souness, so I don’t know why when it comes to me it’s all about goals, because it’s never been my game.”

Rice scored just 15 goals in 245 appearances for West Ham – albeit while being used as a central defender initially, before stepping into a No.6 role at the base of midfield.

Since moving across London, the England international has netted six goals in 48 appearances, so he is clearly making huge strides in terms of finding the net – despite the fact goalscoring is not a major part of his game, as he told The Athletic.

Arsenal No.41 just needs to keep going

It was foolish of Keane, Redknapp and Souness to discuss Rice’s goal return – it is akin to criticising a striker for the amount of tackles they make.

Football pundits have a tendency to say silly things – as Arsenal fans are all too aware of.

Therefore, Rice just needs to keep doing what he’s doing under Arteta and remain focused, as it’s clearly a waste of time to get caught up in foolish debates created by those in the punditry world.

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