Arsenal star Declan Rice hit back at footie legends Roy Keane, Graeme Souness and Jamie Redknapp for banging on about his goal tally.

The England ace was miffed at the trio for constantly harping on about his lack of goals during his West Ham days. Keane, in particular, had a pop last season, saying Rice needed to up his game with more goals and assists to be considered top-drawer.

He has enhanced his game and Mikel Arteta's side since joining the club from West Ham United for £104million last summer. Rice has banged in six and set up eight in 35 Premier League matches already smashing his previous season's stats.

Chatting with The Athletic, Rice wasn't having any of it. "No, not really," he said, when asked if the criticism stung. "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."

He pointed out that these pundits are remembered for their midfield mastery rather than their goal-scoring prowess: "But they're remembered for what they did as midfield players: Roy Keane breaking up play, being a hard-tackling midfielder, won loads of titles for United."

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"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. Since I've been scoring, no one has said anything! " Rice added, throwing shade at the critics who've gone quiet now that he's found the back of the net for Arsenal, reports the Mirror.

Rice has previously made light of Keane's evaluation, and shared a joke with the Sky Sports pundit after netting against United earlier this season. In a post-match conversation, the 25 year-old quipped: "What do you reckon Roy?"

Keane responded: "Own goal." The ball seemed to have taken a minor deflection following Rice's shot. On that occasion, the match-winner did concede that he had become more ruthless in front of goal.

Rice further commented: "The old me would've set that back for a cross not going to lie. When I was a youngster, I would've played that back to (Fabio) Vieira. But last minute of the game, fine margins and if you don't shoot you don't score."