Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland hold different opinions when it comes to which Arsenal midfielder stands out as one of the Premier League’s bests.
Guardiola believes that every team in the Prem – including Manchester City – would appreciate Declan Rice in their midfield. However, striker Haaland feels that his squad would benefit more from signing fellow Norwegian international Martin Odegaard.
In recent years, there has been a continuous title race between City and Arsenal, with Guardiola’s men triumphing over Mikel Arteta’s men on both occassions.
Despite establishing themselves as the best team around, Guardiola aknowledges that their closest rivals Arsenal have some world-class talent at their disposal.
The City boss has always been complimentary of Arsenal’s squad – and in particular his former City players in Oleksandr Zinchenko, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus – but it is Rice who he claimed to be the one player every team would want.
City had been linked with him before his £105m move to Arsenal from West Ham. Reflecting on the missed opportunity earlier this year, Guardiola said: “Sometimes here we have many players we wanted and they didn’t decide to join us.
“He’s not the first one who we wanted who didn’t join us. We have a long list. Basically, they don’t want to come or the price or whatever, so it could not happen. He made his decision, a good one, and good luck. All the teams in the Premier League would have signed Declan Rice.
