Declan Rice: Arsenal's Key to Premier League Glory and Ballon d'Or Aspirations

Declan Rice has spent a year dragging standards higher at Arsenal. The Premier League title is back in north London after 22 long years, and the £105 million midfielder has stood at the centre of it all, dictating games, driving legs and minds, and turning Mikel Arteta’s system into a machine.

With that kind of influence, the Ballon d’Or talk was always coming. It has already started.

Some see Rice as a genuine Golden Ball contender for 2026, the heartbeat of a team reborn at Emirates Stadium and now a pillar of England’s hopes on the international stage. He arrived from West Ham in 2023 for a then British record fee and has barely missed a beat since, almost ever-present in a side that has leapt forward with him in its engine room.

He has looked like the missing piece. The one that finally made Arsenal’s intricate jigsaw click into a title-winning picture.

Now comes the next step. England, still waiting for a major trophy 60 years on, will lean heavily on him on North American soil this summer. If he can carry his club form into a global tournament and help the Three Lions to a world crown, the Ballon d’Or conversation changes. A player widely tipped as a future England captain would suddenly be more than a cog in a winning team; he would be a leading candidate for football’s most coveted individual prize, a man making up for Champions League final heartbreak with Arsenal by conquering the world with his country.

Not everyone is ready to go that far.

Robbie Fowler, who knows a thing or two about elite standards in an England shirt and at Liverpool, is not convinced Rice belongs in the “best on the planet” bracket just yet. The comparison that keeps coming is inevitable and unforgiving: Steven Gerrard.

Gerrard finished third in the 2005 Ballon d’Or voting, the year of Istanbul and that extraordinary Champions League run. He never actually won the award, but he lived in that rarefied air. Fowler does not believe Rice is there yet.

“I like Declan Rice,” Fowler said, speaking exclusively to GOAL courtesy of BetMGM. He then drew the line that always seems to appear. When Rice’s level comes up, Gerrard’s name follows. “If I'm being honest, I don't think he's Steven's level. That's not me being all Liverpool.”

The praise came with a clear ceiling. Since his move to Arsenal, Rice has become “a more complete player”, in Fowler’s eyes. He has gone up a notch. Just not enough.

Fowler’s view is blunt. Rice has been “great for Arsenal” and has obviously improved, but he still needs to climb again if he is to be taken seriously as a Ballon d’Or regular. It may sound like a dig, he admitted, yet his verdict stayed the same: Rice is “a fantastic player”, just not in the “realms of the Ballon d’Or list just yet”.

The numbers back that up for now. In the 2025 Ballon d’Or vote, Rice finished 27th, a long way from the podium. That came after a season in which he did not lift major silverware with Arsenal, his performances judged in the shadow of others who did.

This year is different. He now has a domestic title to his name and came agonisingly close to a remarkable double, pushing Arsenal towards history before falling just short of a clean sweep. His medal collection has started to catch up with his reputation.

The next chapter belongs to England. Rice will park the red of Arsenal and step fully into the white of his country, carrying the weight of a nation and the expectations that come with being its midfield anchor. The stage is bigger. The scrutiny sharper.

By all accounts, the Kingston upon Thames native would be the first to say he is not yet at Gerrard’s level. That honesty has always been part of his appeal. But ambition defines him just as much. He has never backed away from a challenge, never shied from a higher bar.

The Ballon d’Or might still feel distant. One summer, one tournament, one defining campaign could change that. The question now is simple: can Rice turn potential and influence into the kind of glory that forces the world to rewrite his place in the game?