Declan Rice: Arsenal's Key Player and Ballon d'Or Contender
Declan Rice has just driven Arsenal back to the summit of English football and dragged his name into the Ballon d’Or conversation. Not as a favourite yet, not even close, but firmly on the radar.
A Premier League title, ending a 22-year wait in north London, will do that to a player’s reputation. So will a £105 million price tag and the way he has worn it, not as a burden, but as a statement.
Arsenal’s engine, England’s hope
Since arriving from West Ham in 2023 for a then British record fee, Rice has barely missed a beat or a minute. Mikel Arteta dropped him straight into the engine room and Arsenal instantly looked more complete, more secure, more grown up.
He has become one of the final pieces in a long, meticulous rebuild. The midfield that once felt flimsy now has a spine. The team that once flinched in big moments now leans on him.
That transformation has inevitably spilled into the international debate. England, six decades without a major trophy, head to North America this summer hoping Rice can be the same kind of catalyst in white that he has been in red. A global crown with the Three Lions would hurl him up the Ballon d’Or rankings and help erase the sting of Champions League final disappointment with Arsenal.
For a player widely tipped as a future England captain, this is the stage he has been walking towards.
Fowler’s verdict: not Gerrard level… yet
Not everyone is ready to place him among the game’s absolute elite. Certainly not Robbie Fowler.
The former England striker, speaking to GOAL courtesy of BetMGM, admires Rice. That much is clear. But he draws a firm line when the conversation shifts from “top midfielder” to “best in the world” territory.
“I like Declan Rice,” Fowler said, before delivering the comparison that still defines English midfielders of a certain profile. When Rice’s name comes up, Steven Gerrard’s is never far behind.
“If I'm being honest, I don't think he's Steven's level,” Fowler admitted. He stressed this wasn’t Liverpool bias, just a cold assessment. Rice has become “a more complete player” at Arsenal, he said, but “I don't think he's the level that Steven Gerrard is just yet.”
The reminder followed quickly: Gerrard himself never won the Ballon d’Or, even in the year he dragged Liverpool to that unforgettable 2005 Champions League triumph, when he finished third in the vote.
Rice, Fowler argued, still has another gear to find.
“He's been great for Arsenal and he's obviously gone up a notch. But I think he needs to go up another notch, if I'm being genuine in terms of his performances. It does sound like I'm having a little bit of a go, but I'm not. I think Declan Rice is a fantastic player, but I don't think he's on the realms of the Ballon d'Or list just yet.”
Climbing from 27th to the very top
The numbers back up that caution. In the 2025 Ballon d’Or vote, Rice finished 27th. Respectable. Noticeable. But nowhere near the podium.
He hadn’t yet lifted major silverware with Arsenal at that point, which inevitably counted against him when observers across the globe cast their ballots. That narrative has shifted now. He has a domestic title to his name and came agonisingly close to a historic double, driving Arsenal’s push on multiple fronts.
The platform has changed. The perception, not quite.
Rice’s game is not built on highlight-reel chaos. He doesn’t trade in overhead kicks or 30-yard screamers every other week. He trades in control, in recovery runs, in tackles that kill counter-attacks before they exist. Ballon d’Or voters tend to fall for the fireworks, not the scaffolding.
To break through that barrier, he will need trophies. Big ones. Club and country.
Gerrard’s shadow and Rice’s response
The Gerrard comparison is a heavy one. It always is. The former Liverpool captain dominated games, dragged teams, bent entire European nights to his will. Rice knows that. By all accounts, he would be the first to admit he is not at that level yet.
That honesty is part of his appeal. The Kingston upon Thames native has never ducked a challenge, never shied away from responsibility. He left West Ham with a Europa Conference League trophy in his hands and the weight of a record fee on his shoulders, then walked into a title race and embraced it.
He has done the same for England, becoming non-negotiable in midfield, the player managers build around rather than rotate.
Now comes the next test. A summer on North American soil, a nation waiting for a first major men’s trophy since 1966, and a player standing on the edge of a different kind of conversation.
Rice is not yet “the best player on the planet”. He is not yet on Gerrard’s rung of the ladder. But he is climbing, steadily, relentlessly.
If he keeps collecting titles and starts lifting them in an England shirt, the Golden Ball that feels out of reach today may not look quite so distant in a few years’ time.
