Declan Rice's Rise: A Future Ballon d'Or Contender?
Declan Rice has just powered Arsenal to a long-awaited Premier League title, dragged them out of tight corners all season and planted himself firmly at the heart of Mikel Arteta’s project. Talk of a future Ballon d’Or run was always going to follow.
The numbers and the narrative back it up. Signed for a then British record £105 million in 2023, the former West Ham midfielder has barely missed a beat in north London. He has become the metronome, the shield, the surge from deep – the kind of all-court presence that transforms a good side into a title-winning one. Arsenal’s 22-year wait for the league to return to their side of the city ended with Rice driving the engine room.
That kind of impact inevitably draws grand comparisons. For English midfielders, there is one name that never sits far from the conversation: Steven Gerrard.
Gerrard’s shadow and the Ballon d’Or bar
The idea of Rice as a Golden Ball contender in 2026 has gathered pace, not least because of what lies ahead this summer. If he can carry his Arsenal form onto North American soil and finally drag England to a major trophy, the narrative writes itself. A domestic champion, a global winner with the Three Lions, a future England captain in waiting – that is Ballon d’Or territory.
Yet Robbie Fowler, who knows a thing or two about elite standards in an England shirt, is not ready to place Rice among the game’s absolute elite just yet.
“I like Declan Rice,” the former Liverpool and England striker said, speaking to GOAL courtesy of BetMGM. The compliment came with a sharp edge. When the inevitable comparison with Gerrard surfaced, Fowler didn’t hesitate.
“If I'm being honest, I don't think he's Steven's level,” he admitted. This was not, he stressed, a case of Liverpool bias. In Fowler’s eyes, Rice has clearly grown since arriving at Arsenal, becoming “a more complete player.” The leap has been obvious. The final destination, less so.
Gerrard himself never won the Ballon d’Or, even in a 2005 campaign that dragged Liverpool to a miracle Champions League triumph and earned him third place in the voting. That is the standard Fowler is invoking. A midfielder who dominated the biggest nights, bent finals to his will and still fell short of the Golden Ball.
Rice, Fowler insists, is not yet at that level.
One more gear
Rice’s rise has been rapid, but the global vote tells its own story. In the 2025 Ballon d’Or rankings, he finished 27th. Respectable, but distant. At that point, he had not yet placed a major trophy on the table with Arsenal. The performances were admired, not irresistible.
That changed with this season’s title. Rice has now anchored a championship-winning side and almost delivered a famous double, only to fall short in the Champions League final. The heartache on club football’s biggest stage stung, but it also sharpened the sense that he is circling the game’s summit without quite landing on it.
Fowler’s verdict reflects that tension. Rice has “gone up a notch” at Arsenal. To live in the same breath as Gerrard, to sit seriously on a Ballon d’Or shortlist, he needs another one.
“It does sound like I'm having a little bit of a go, but I'm not,” Fowler said. “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.”
It is a challenge as much as a criticism.
England, North America and the next step
England’s wait for a major trophy now stretches to 60 years. Rice walks into this summer’s tournament as one of Gareth Southgate’s non-negotiables, the anchor around which everything else spins. If England are finally to end the drought on North American soil, it is hard to imagine it happening without Rice at the core.
This is where his personal ambition and his country’s desperation collide. A global crown with the Three Lions would do more than decorate his CV. It would shove him up the Ballon d’Or pecking order and help erase the pain of that Champions League final loss.
Rice, by all accounts, would be the last to claim he already stands shoulder to shoulder with Gerrard. The Kingston upon Thames native has never been short of humility, nor of ambition. He knows the rungs still left to climb. He also knows he has never backed away from a challenge.
He has become one of the final pieces in Arsenal’s intricate title puzzle. The next question is simple, and far bigger: can he now turn that influence into the kind of era-defining success for club and country that forces the Ballon d’Or conversation to bend his way?
