Declan Rice: Arsenal's Title-Winning Heartbeat and Ballon d'Or Aspirant
Declan Rice has just helped drag the Premier League title back to north London for the first time in 22 years, has become the heartbeat of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, and carries the hopes of a country that has gone six decades without a major trophy. Talk of the Ballon d’Or was always going to follow.
Some already see him as a genuine Golden Ball contender for 2026, the kind of midfield general whose influence stretches far beyond his own statistics. Arsenal paid a then British record £105 million for him in 2023 and have been repaid with an almost ever-present force in their engine room, a player who has turned a promising project into a title-winning machine.
Rice has looked like one of the final pieces in Arteta’s intricate jigsaw. With him anchoring and driving, Arsenal have taken the “giant strides forward” the club craved for years. Now, with a domestic crown secured and a near-miss on a famous double, the gaze turns outward. North America awaits, and with it another chance for England to end 60 years of frustration.
A World Cup on foreign soil, a maturing core of players, and Rice right at the centre of it. If he were to lift a global trophy with the Three Lions, it would propel him straight up the Ballon d’Or conversation, especially after the sting of Champions League final heartache at club level. Global crowns change careers. They also change how voters think.
Not everyone is ready to place him among the game’s absolute elite just yet, though.
Robbie Fowler, a former England striker and Liverpool icon, isn’t convinced Rice belongs in the “best on the planet” bracket. When the comparisons inevitably turn to Steven Gerrard – the ex-England captain who finished third in the 2005 Ballon d’Or – Fowler draws a clear line.
“I like Declan Rice,” he said, speaking exclusively to GOAL courtesy of BetMGM. He then went straight to the crux of the debate: “I think when we talk about Declan Rice and how good he is, you compare him, obviously, to the likes of Stevie G. If I'm being honest, I don't think he's Steven's level. That's not me being all Liverpool.”
Fowler did not dismiss Rice’s growth. Far from it.
“I think Declan Rice, since he's gone to Arsenal, he has become a more complete player. But I don't think he's the level that Steven Gerrard is just yet. Look, Steven Gerrard never won the Ballon d'Or.”
That last line matters. Even a player as dominant and decisive as Gerrard – Istanbul, FA Cup finals, dragging sides through games by sheer force of will – never got his hands on the award Rice is now being linked with. It underlines the scale of the climb ahead.
“It is what it is in terms of his performances. 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,” Fowler added. “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.”
The numbers back up that caution. In the 2025 Ballon d’Or vote, Rice finished down in 27th place, his ranking coming after a season without major silverware at Arsenal. That has now changed. He is a Premier League champion, a central pillar of a side that came agonisingly close to a historic double.
The pressure finally told in Arsenal’s favour domestically, and Rice’s presence in midfield felt decisive. He shielded, surged, and stitched together phases of play in a way the club had been missing since the Invincibles era. That kind of season tends to be a launchpad, not a peak.
Now comes the next test. The shirt changes from red to white, the expectations only grow heavier. England will lean on him in the same way Arsenal have, hoping that the calm, commanding midfielder from Kingston upon Thames can become their lucky charm on the biggest stage.
Rice himself would be the first to admit he is not yet at Gerrard’s level. The talent, the aura, the catalogue of defining nights – those belong to a different era and a different kind of midfielder. But Rice’s intention is clear: he wants to reach that company, and he has never looked like a player who shirks a challenge.
He has already proved he can carry a club’s ambitions. Now we find out whether he can carry a nation’s – and whether that journey eventually ends with his name on the Golden Ball.
