To say that Arsenal are unrecognisable as a club today from the one Mikel Arteta took charge of over five years ago would be an understatement.
The Spaniard has helped to completely overhaul the club from top to bottom and has signed some incredible players in the process.
One of his very best additions to the squad has undoubtedly been Declan Rice, who was once again incredible in the Champions League this week.
And now, it looks like another of Arteta’s signings is transforming into a Rice-type player this season.
Rice's best European nights for Arsenal
Since joining the club for £105m in the summer of 2023, Rice has made 26 appearances for Arsenal in the Champions League, in which he has scored four goals, provided four assists and averaged 2.12 points per game.
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It would be fair to say that across those 26 games, he has been pretty incredible for the North Londoners, but when it comes to picking out his best European nights in red and white, there are three that stick out, the first of which is the home game against Paris Saint-Germain in the league phase last season.
It was a game the Gunners comfortably won 2-0, and one in which the former West Ham United captain totally bossed the Parisians’ smaller and, at the time, out-of-form midfield.
The Englishman didn’t pick up a goal or assist in that game, but he did do that in his second-best Champions League display for the club, which came on Wednesday this week.
Arteta started his record signing in the left eight against Atlético Madrid, and as fans have now come to expect, he was cool, calm and composed on the ball and a physical monster off of it.
Moreover, he provided the assist for Gabriel Magalhães’ opener, and then it was his corner that eventually led to Viktor Gyokeres’ second goal, and the team’s fourth.
However, while the 26-year-old was great against Atleti, he was out of this world against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals last season.
The midfield machine put in an extraordinary shift at the Bernabéu, but it was the home leg where he was utterly sublime, stopping everything in the middle of the park and then scoring those two world-class free-kicks.
In short, while he cost a lot of money, Rice has been worth every penny for Arsenal, and now another of Arteta’s signings is starting to embody some of his best traits.
Arsenal's new Rice-type star
Due to Arteta’s brilliant signings and Hale End’s production of talent, there is no shortage of incredible players in Arsenal’s squad, but the player who is becoming something of a Rice-type star is Riccardo Calafiori.
Now, it’s worth noting that this doesn’t mean they are the same type of player, as that would be a silly thing to suggest.
However, there are some increasingly obvious similarities between the pair, with the first being their mentality.
Like the Englishman, since coming back from his string of injuries that kept him out for most of last season, the former Bologna star has played like a man possessed.
Not only is he someone who can and does bound forward with the ball at his feet, but he’s also more than happy to get into a physical duel with an opponent to try and keep the ball or win it. As The Telegraph’s Sam Dean aptly put it, he plays like a “wild horse on the loose.”
On top of that, he is also a sensational striker of the ball, and while he isn’t delivering set-pieces, it has been on show in the goals he has scored over the last year, and even those that have been disallowed, like that unreal volley against Fulham last weekend.
Moreover, like the former West Ham man, the Italian international seems to have limitless energy, and this season has been allowed the freedom to roam here, there and everywhere on the pitch.
This “positionless” approach in games, as one analyst puts it, makes him a nightmare for opponents to defend against and could help him snuff out counters before they have a chance to get out of their half at times.
Finally, the Rome-born titan is also one of the best in his position in the league, as according to FBref, he ranks in the top 2% of full-backs for expected goals, shots, goal-creating actions, the top 6% for shot-creating actions, the top 17% for tackles in the attacking third and more, all per 90.
xG: Expected Goals
0.28
Top 2%
npxG: Non-Penalty xG
0.28
Top 2%
Shots Total
2.35
Top 2%
SCA (Fouls Drawn)
0.29
Top 2%
Goal-Creating Actions
0.73
Top 2%
GCA (Defensive Action)
0.15
Top 2%
SCA (Shot)
0.44
Top 6%
GCA (Shot)
0.15
Top 6%
Touches (Att Pen)
3.96
Top 6%
Goals + Assists
0.44
Top 10%
SCA (Defensive Action)
0.15
Top 10%
GCA (Live-ball Pass)
0.44
Top 10%
Goals
0.15
Top 13%
Assists
0.29
Top 13%
Non-Penalty Goals
0.15
Top 13%
npxG/Shot
0.12
Top 13%
Tackles (Att 3rd)
0.44
Top 17%
Ultimately, Calafiori has been unreal for Arsenal this season, and as he has got better, he has become more and more of a Rice-type player.
