Former England manager Roy Hodgson, has said that every manager looks forward to having a midfielder like Declan Rice in their team.
Hodgson will lead his Crystal Palace side against Arsenal in the Premier League on Monday
Rice, 24, moved from West Ham to Arsenal in a £105million deal this summer.
“I think it (central midfield) has always been big,” Hodgson told newsmen ahead of their Premier League game with Arsenal.
“I don’t think it’s anything new. You will never be able to align it to centre forward because centre forwards will always be right up there as really big ones.
“It’s still Neymar and [Kylian] Mbappe that go beyond our hundred million pounds here.
“Harry Kane, yes he cost just over a hundred million (when he signed for Bayern Munich), but only because he was in the last year of his contract
“If he’d have had a three-year contract, Tottenham would have been asking for a lot more money. They score the goals. The game is about goals.
“But I think the midfield area is an area where people within football have always understood the importance of it and the importance of getting good players in, none more so than Sir Alex [Ferguson] at Manchester United because he always had really, really top-class players in that centre of midfield, all of whom brought him trophies.
“[Rice] has got strength, he’s got energy, he understands the game very well. He gets from box to box, and when he’s in each of the boxes, he does a really good job. He knows how to defend and he also has an eye for goal, so really he’s the type of player that every person is looking for.”
