Graeme Souness Critiques Declan Rice: ‘Old Man’s Football’ Not World-Class
Graeme Souness has launched a stinging critique of Declan Rice, accusing Arsenal’s £105 million man of “cheating” his position and playing “old man’s football” despite branding him the best defensive midfielder in England.
The former Liverpool captain used Arsenal’s recent 2-1 win over Chelsea as his reference point, dissecting Rice’s role on Piers Morgan's Football Uncensored and questioning whether the 27-year-old truly operates as a midfielder at all.
“He plays as the last man”
Souness fixated on Rice’s habit of dropping deep in the build-up, often sliding into the back line rather than holding a traditional midfield station.
“How many times do you see him as the last man with the ball,” he asked Morgan. “In the build-up, he's last man. He's sitting between two centre-halves or between the centre-half and the full-back. He's last man. A lot of the time, he doesn't play in midfield.”
For Souness, that positioning is not just a quirk of the modern game. It’s a cop-out.
“In my second or third home game (of my career), I went into the back four like all midfield players do today. It's old man's football. It's cheating. An old man's way of playing midfield. You get the ball under no pressure and you play it out to the full-back."
That, in his eyes, strips away the responsibility and bravery that should define a top-class midfielder.
Best in England – but still not complete
Souness did not dismiss Rice’s strengths. Far from it. He called him the outstanding destroyer in the country.
“He (Rice) plays too deep to affect the game,” Souness said. “I don't think he's got enough football. Let me tell you what he can do. He's the best defensive midfielder in the country right now, he smells danger. But then again, he's back there all the time."
The praise came with a sharp edge. Souness argued that Rice’s constant retreat into defensive zones means he struggles to truly dictate matches at the highest level.
That led him to a blunt conclusion: maybe Rice is playing in the wrong position.
“He may be a centre-half”
"He's not a midfield player then is he? I think he may be a centre-half,” Souness suggested. “The ball travels faster than you do. I see him run with the ball 30 yards and pass it square. He's a lovely kicker of the ball and opens his body up well, there's nothing to dislike about him.”
The former Scotland international then turned his fire on what he sees as a wider generational issue.
“But modern players are a bit precious. Criticism doesn't fall easily on these (players') shoulders. He isn't the complete midfield player."
Rice, a mainstay for both Arsenal and England, is widely spoken of as world-class. Souness pushed back hard on that label.
“I’m not sure he gets in”
When asked whether Rice belongs in the elite bracket, Souness dismissed the idea that he would walk into Europe’s superclubs.
“I'm not sure if he gets in Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Man City,” he said. “If you want the best in that position, City had two of them - Fernandinho and Rodri. They played in midfield.”
Souness urged viewers to focus on the details of Rice’s involvement when Arsenal build from the back.
“Next time, please watch him. He goes in and gets it cheap under no pressure, a 10-yard pass off Gabriel, and passes it sideways."
For Souness, that pattern underlines his belief that Rice is operating too safely, too deep, and too comfortably to be mentioned alongside the very best.
Blamed for England’s World Cup collapse
Souness even went as far as to hold Rice partly responsible for England’s World Cup semi-final exit to Argentina in the summer.
"When England went one-nil up against Argentina, they s*** themselves. 'Oh, what do we do now?' And I put that down to Declan Rice and [Elliot] Anderson as the central midfield players in the engine room," he claimed. "They didn't get them playing. They went back in held hands with the back four."
In Souness’s view, that was the moment England’s midfield shrank, retreated, and surrendered control – exactly the flaw he sees in Rice’s club performances.
For a player signed to transform Arsenal’s spine and already hailed as the country’s premier holding midfielder, the question now hangs in the air: is this just an old-school pundit railing against a modern role, or a brutal warning that Rice still has a long way to go before he truly belongs among Europe’s elite?
