Jamie Carragher has called out Declan Rice critics such as Roy Keane while leaving his fellow pundit red faced by comparing the Arsenal midfielder to him.

Rice’s stellar performances in an Arsenal shirt since leaving West Ham for £105million in the summer of 2023 mean his eye-watering price-tag is rarely brought up.

"I almost feel sometimes that I’m one of Declan Rice’s biggest supporters because I do often find myself scratching my head when I see people criticise him and asking for more goals and assists," Carragher said.



They chipped in with five or six a season and for me, Declan Rice is one of those type of all-round midfielders – a bit like Roy Keane.

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"He said he’s playing in the No.8 and a bit higher, but he’s almost like a throwback midfield player that used to play in a 4-4-2 formation and could do a bit of everything.”

Carragher added: "I think he’s a wonderful player, his passing range is vastly underrated – you saw that with the pass for the fifth (goal).

Jamie Carragher doesn't understand why people ask Rice to increase his goals and assists.

I think he needs to do a lot more," Keane said.

"He doesn't score enough goals, he doesn't get enough assists....

But since I’ve been scoring, no one has said anything!”

Keane managed 87 goals and 47 assists in almost 700 appearances at club level while playing for the likes of United, Nottingham Forest and Celtic
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