Rice outperformed Arsenal's midfielders last season
British newspaper Sunsport has compiled Rice's stats and compared it with four Arsenal midfielders in the 2022-2023 season, including Martin Odegaard, Jorginho, Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka in the Premier League last season. Of these, Xhaka moved to Leverkusen for a fee of $27 million this summer.
Rice has the highest pass accuracy rate with 88%, equal to Partey. Following are Jorginho (87.6%), Xhaka (86.5%) and captain Odegaard (84%).
The British player also excels in interception. Last season, Rice had 63 interceptions, while this figure of Odegaard, Jorginho, Partey, Granit Xhaka was 6, 9, 28, 15 respectively.
Rice also impressed with 315 dribbles. This continues to be the statistic that the 24-year-old midfielder is much older than Partey (250), Odegaard (186), Xhaka (146) and Jorginho (83).
As a defensive midfielder, Rice only contributed to six goals in the Premier League, including four goals and two assists. But he still has a better record than Partey (three goals) and Jorginho (one assist). Odegaard leads the way in this stat with 15 goals and seven assists, while Xhaka scores seven and assists seven.
Rice was recruited by Arsenal from West Ham for a total of $ 137 million, including 10 million extra fees depending on the midfielder's contribution. "Gunners" will gradually pay the amount of $ 127 million in three installments over two years, with a deadline in the summer of 2025. The England player signs a 5-year contract with a weekly salary of $ 316,000.
Rice is Arsenal's third rookie this summer, after Kai Havertz - a striker bought from Chelsea for $ 78 million and Jurrien Timber - a midfielder worth $ 51 million from Ajax. Rice also became the most expensive contract in Arsenal history, breaking Nicolas Pepe's record of $ 87 million in the summer of 2019.
Sky Sports assesses that Rice's ability to compete strongly, dribble the ball, create mutations in front of the opponent's box and multi-task will help elevate Arsenal next season. Rice and his new teammates went to the US to prepare for a friendly match against the MLS All-Star in Washington on July 19, Man Utd in New Jersey on July 22, Barca in Los Angeles on July 26.
Arsenal will close the pre-season with a match against Monaco in the annual Emirates Cup friendly on August 2. Four days later, the army under Mikel Arteta will meet Man City in the English Super Cup match at Wembley.
