Declan Rice: From Premier League Champion to Ballon d'Or Contender
Declan Rice has just helped drag a Premier League title back to north London for the first time in 22 years, become the heartbeat of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal and turned a £105 million price tag into a bargain conversation. Naturally, the next question comes roaring in: how high can he climb?
Some are already pointing towards the very top. The Golden Ball. Ballon d’Or conversations. World player of the year chatter wrapped around a holding midfielder who does the dirty work and still finds time to drive his team forward.
Rice has become that important at Emirates Stadium. Arsenal signed him from West Ham in 2023 for a then British record fee, handed him the keys to their midfield and watched their entire structure harden around him. Almost ever-present, rarely anything less than an 8 out of 10, he has looked like one of the final pieces in Arteta’s intricate title-winning jigsaw.
Now the gaze turns across the Atlantic. England, 60 long years without a major trophy to raise, will lean on him again on North American soil this summer. If he can carry his club form into the international arena and help the Three Lions collect a global crown, the Ballon d’Or debate changes gear. A world title would shove his name higher up that list, especially after the sting of Champions League final heartache with Arsenal.
That’s the dream. The reality, for Robbie Fowler at least, is a little more grounded.
The former England striker, speaking exclusively to GOAL via BetMGM, admires Rice but bristles at the idea that he already belongs in the game’s loftiest bracket. To measure him, he reaches for the gold standard of English midfielders.
“I like Declan Rice,” Fowler said, before drawing the comparison that always seems to follow elite English midfielders. Steven Gerrard.
“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. 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. Gerrard at his peak dragged Liverpool through Champions League nights almost by force of will, finished third in the 2005 Ballon d’Or voting and still walked away without the trophy. For Fowler, that sets the bar.
“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. 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 the caution. In the 2025 Ballon d’Or vote, Rice finished down in 27th place. Respectable, certainly, but nowhere near the podium. At that point he had not yet lifted major silverware with Arsenal, his performances weighed by observers around the world without the sheen of a title.
That has changed. He now has a domestic crown to his name, a central figure in the side that finally ended Arsenal’s wait and came agonisingly close to a historic double. The engine room presence, the balance, the leadership – all of it underpinned that surge.
Next comes the international test.
Rice, the humble Kingston upon Thames product, has never pretended he already sits alongside Gerrard in the game’s hierarchy. He knows the rungs still to climb. But he also doesn’t duck challenges. He left West Ham for the pressure cooker of Arsenal. He embraced a record fee. He stepped into a dressing room full of big personalities and became a reference point.
Now he walks into a summer where a nation expects.
If he turns that expectation into a trophy, the Golden Ball talk won’t sound ambitious. It will sound inevitable.
