25 March 2023 , 10:30
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Mikel Arteta has insisted his Arsenal side require more goals from midfield this season and transfer target Declan Rice was among the goal for England on Thursday night.
Rice's strike for the Three Lions helped the West Ham ace silence some critics after Liverpool legend and prominent pundit Graeme Souness blasted the 24-year-old for not scoring enough goals. Arsenal have been relentlessly linked with the Hammers star as Arteta's pursuit for a long-term central midfield addition continues.
Arsenal made a number of bids for Brighton star Moises Caicedo in the January transfer window, as well as a late surge for Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz in the summer. The Gunners eventually opted for Jorginho on an 18-month deal, but Arteta is well aware his squad needs a younger model in the long run.
Rice seems to be the player the Spaniard has his heart set on and Arteta would have been delighted by the fact that the West Ham skipper notched another strike for his country in the 2-1 win in Naples.
The Arsenal boss admitted last month while discussing Granit Xhaka that his side need to be consistently getting goals from midfield.
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"He [Xhaka] could have had much better service on many occasions when he was in those positions," Arteta explained. "But certainly to maintain our level we need goals from midfield and that is a big target for us."
HAVE YOUR SAY! Is Souness' assessment of Rice accurate? Comment below
Declan Rice opened the scoring for England in Naples but Graeme Souness still has some complaints (Getty Images)The recent rumours would suggest that the Spaniard clearly feels like Rice is the man to help with that issue, though Souness isn't so sure.
Days after initially claiming Rice doesn't score enough, Souness doubled down on his assessment even after the England ace's goal for Gareth Southgate's men.
The Scotsman wrote in the Daily Mail : "He needs to get on the half-turn more when he receives the ball from his defenders and play it forward more, and not be content with going back to where it came from and square with his passes.
"And he needs to chip in with more goals. He has scored twice in the Premier League this season in 26 games and it’s not enough."
Souness also admitted his original opinion wasn't changed based off Rice's showing against Italy.
"I watched the game against Italy and the same things were on show. Any world-class midfield player is on the half-turn most of the time and looking to play forwards. How many times did Rice do that in Naples? Not nearly enough for me."
Arteta clearly disagrees if the speculation is to be believed, with confidence among the Arsenal hierarchy growing that the Gunners could land Rice in the next window for as little as £75m with his West Ham contract up next summer.