Arsenal star Declan Rice has called out Roy Keane for unfair criticism and has aimed a dig at the Manchester United legend over his goalscoring record.
Keane raised eyebrows last year when he said that Rice doesn’t score enough goals, doesn’t provide enough assists and needs to do ‘more’ to be a top player.
Fellow pundits Graeme Souness and Jamie Redknapp have also criticised Rice for his lack of goal involvements but the Englishman has dismissed their opinions too.
Rice, who normally operates in a deep-lying midfield role, has conjured up six goals and eight assists across 35 Premier League games for Arsenal this season.
Quizzed if he felt criticism of his scoring record was fair, Rice told The Athletic: ‘No, not really.
‘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: Roy 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. Since I’ve been scoring, no one has said anything!’
Keane provided 51 goals and 39 assists across 477 appearances for United while Souness scored 55 times and registered 40 assists in 358 games for Liverpool.
Redknapp, meanwhile, made 308 appearances for Liverpool and conjured up 42 goals and 31 assists.
Before he left West Ham to join Arsenal last summer, Rice scored 15 times and produced 13 assists across 245 games.
Since moving across London to the Emirates, Rice has made 48 appearances for Arsenal across all competitions, registering six goals and nine assists to date.
Meanwhile, Rice insists he is a different type of player to Manchester City star Rodri as the 25-year-old added: ‘He’s a lot more structured than I am. I’d say I’m a lot more off-the-cuff. Obviously, this season I’ve been more structured. But in terms of the way I play, I feel like… being free a little bit more.’
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