All posts by h716a5.icu

Vijay Shankar has put the memory of the Nidahas Trophy final behind him, using the A tours to gain confidence in finishing the innings in 50-over cricket and coping with pressure

Deivarayan Muthu13-Jan-2019March 18, 2018, Nidahas T20 tri-series final. Vijay Shankar walks into the Khettarama to bat for the first time for India, with the side needing 69 off 40 balls. He feels his way into international batting with a wristy flick through square leg. Bangladesh’s gun bowler Mustafizur Rahman then returns and rolls out one cutter after another. Vijay desperately keeps swiping across the line and misses four successive balls. He slogs at the next ball as well, and cobbles a leg-bye. Those who have watched Vijay in domestic cricket know that his strength is timing the ball over the covers or down the ground but here he is looking to hack it over the leg side.Pressure can scramble your judgement and make you do strange things. The equation eventually boils down to 12 off the last over. Off the penultimate ball, Vijay is dismissed for 17 and India need 5 off the last delivery. Vijay’s Tamil Nadu team-mate and his good friend Dinesh Karthik keeps his cool and imperiously launches Soumya Sarkar over the extra-cover boundary to win it for India.Karthik soaks in the moment, but Vijay is broken. Look at the team posing with the trophy: Karthik, Suresh Raina, Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur and stand-in captain Rohit Sharma all flash smiles while Vijay, who is in the last row, looks lost in his own world. Mustafizur over is still running in his mind. He is getting trolled on social media.

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Fast-forward to January 12, 2019. Vijay, who has moved on from the Nidahas nightmare, gets his maiden ODI call-up. He admits that getting trolled on social media last year was a “difficult experience”, but he believes that it has equipped him to deal with pressure better in cricket and life.”I am not someone who is very active on social media, but the first two days after that Nidahas Trophy were difficult for me,” Vijay tells ESPNcricinfo. “But, it has helped me grow as a cricketer and a person, and helped me handle media, social networks and pressure. After the match, DK, Rohit and many others told me it can happen to anyone and I had to get over it. Yes, I did look at posts on me after the Nidahas final, but I am not thinking about it anymore. I’ve totally moved on from it, scoring runs for India A and Tamil Nadu.”In December last year in New Zealand, Vijay was entrusted with the responsibility of finishing the innings for India A, and he stepped up with a chart-topping 188 runs at an average of 94 and strike-rate of 105.02 in the side’s 3-0 sweep of a strong New Zealand A in the List A series.ALSO READ: An injury-plagued career won’t stop Vijay ShankarVijay says that tackling different conditions – according to him, the pitches for the first two one-dayers were quick while the one for the third game was slow – and an international attack comprising Lockie Ferguson, James Neesham, Seth Rance and Doug Bracewell has tuned him up for his first ODI assignment.PTI “The A series in New Zealand was an eye-opener for me,” Vijay says. “We were chasing 300 or more in the first two games and I was able to win it for my team against a quality attack. In the third match, the wicket got a bit slow and Rahul [Dravid] sir came up to me and said try to take the total to 250. I got around 45 and we went past the total and won. I was able to do what the team needed.”The tour showed me I can stand up to one of the quickest bowlers [Lockie Ferguson] in the world. It was not just about hitting well. I believe I was able to control the innings well. And finishing the innings has been a great experience. When you go to different conditions and perform and learn, it definitely gives you a good feel.”Vijay bowled only 11 overs across three matches for one wicket in New Zealand, but he draws confidence from having bowled with the new ball for Tamil Nadu in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy.”In the A tours I was not asked to bowl much, but I did decently,” he says. “It’s all about getting used to the conditions. I’ve been bowling with the new ball for Tamil Nadu in Vijay Hazare and been bowling regularly in Ranji too.”In 2016, Hardik Pandya had replaced an injured Vijay on India A’s tour of Australia, and subsequently established himself as India’s premier allrounder across formats. Three years later, Vijay has replaced a suspended Pandya, but he is swift to brush off any comparisons and simply wants to do his thing.”I already have so much pressure to deal with,” Vijay says. “I don’t want to take more pressure and I’m not one for comparisons. Everybody has positives and negatives. I just want to learn and keep getting better.”Vijay is due to fly out on Sunday night and will join India’s squad on the eve of their must-win second ODI at Adelaide Oval. He had already clocked plenty of air miles in December, going from Auckland to Singapore to Mumbai to Delhi and then driving for five hours to Mohali to turn out Tamil Nadu against a Punjab side that had Shubman Gill in its ranks. Gill took on Tamil Nadu and Vijay with a blazing double-hundred. Vijay is now ready to soar alongside Gill in the India side.

Before the sides meet on Saturday, here are some answers that can help Bangladesh understand England 2.0 better

Mohammad Isam in Cardiff07-Jun-2019What’s this ‘new’ England we keep hearing about?England are more or less the same team that Bangladesh faced in the 2017 Champions Trophy, except they have become cricket’s hottest property over the last year or so, trying to score off every ball, ideally fours or sixes, and that too, with more than a dash of style. They also attack on the field, making good use of the short ball.England have come into the World Cup as favourites, having won 14 out of 19 ODI series since 2016, including the one in Bangladesh in late 2016. Most of those players form the core of the current side, which also includes newcomer Jofra Archer who has not only pace, but also…Hold on, Bangladesh gave him one of his first big breaks!Since his first overseas T20 stint in the BPL for Khulna Titans in 2017, Archer has become one of the world’s most sought-after cricketers. The ECB changed its eligibility criteria for the qualification period to facilitate Archer’s World Cup selection. His bowling skills apart, he is a gun fielder and also has a first-class century.Okay, we know enough about Archer. Tell us about the othersThey also have Mark Wood, who can crank up the speed gun at will. Liam Plunkett and Chris Woakes haven’t troubled Bangladesh in the past but are capable of causing some damage. Adil Rashid fared badly against Pakistan at Trent Bridge – he conceded 43 from five overs – and might make way for Plunkett.But it’s not about their bowlers. It’s the batsmen. They have been on fire. It’s their transformation into an attacking unit that has made England the pre-tournament favourites. They have come a long way since the 2015 World Cup…Jofra Archer bowled with venom, picking up three key wickets•Getty Images… when Bangladesh knocked them outThat was then. Six players from that XI no longer play ODIs. Captain Morgan, their middle-order mainstay, has done damage against Bangladesh in the past. Buttler, whom Bangladesh managed to annoy back in 2016, is being seen as a potential Player of the Tournament. Woakes, who went for plenty in that Adelaide game four years ago, has also managed to remain a new-ball threat.But, if you remember, England haven’t beaten Bangladesh in the last two World Cups…Certainly. Before Adelaide, there was the Mahmudullah heist in 2011, where he added 58 for the ninth wicket with Shafiul Islam to snatch a two-wicket win. It was also the match where Graeme Swann got into an argument with an umpire over a refused ball change and was fined, along with captain Andrew Strauss. England, however, were a very different side then.And so were Bangladesh. But over the last four years, Bangladesh have won more matches against higher-ranked sides than ever before. Like England, they have also learned how to hold on to the momentum in a match, and have also formed a core group of players who have been playing together for a long time.Yes, the 2016 tour was fun. Both the ODI and Test series were competitive, although there were security concerns.Had England not toured then, Bangladesh would have struggled to call any other country to tour them, and that could have had a spiralling effect on the cricket team too.It has certainly been an interesting time between the two teams. It is a pity that they don’t play each other more regularly.Don’t get started on that. England have only played four ODIs against Bangladesh since the 2015 World Cup.Oh, then Bangladesh should look to make a big statement in Cardiff.Well, how many big statements do the ECB need? You’re right about Cardiff, though. Bangladesh have a knack of pulling off miracles here.Certainly. Beating Australia side in 2005, and then Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah making centuries against New Zealand from 33 for 4 in the Champions Trophy two years ago, are both right up there. But beating this England side would mean an almost miraculous bowling effort from an attack that has lately been low on confidence.Not many teams have been able to crack England at home, especially with their prolific ODI run-scoring. They also seem to want to become the first team to reach 500 runs in an ODI innings.Right.No, seriously! More than half their 300-plus scores in ODIs have come after the 2015 World Cup. England have made four of the last five 400-plus totals. Bangladesh have managed to raise their team run rate from 4.71 in ODIs (until the 2015 World Cup) to 4.89 and will be aiming for a big total in Cardiff too.Well, good luck with that. But it is still Bangladesh playing against in a World Cup, and that too in .They never said it would be easy.

England’s anti-fast bowler has dismissed some very big names at big moments of this World Cup, but do you remember him doing so?

Osman Samiuddin10-Jul-2019You’re still not done swooning over Jofra and may not be done anytime soon. Completely understandable. There’s Woakesy, who is so inoffensive as to be unremarkable, but he’s also really good; a cricketer’s cricketer who does everything well without too much excitement. If communism ever begat a cricketer, Woakesy would be it, good at everything and yet, somehow, firmly, an anonymous unit in a wider, imposing collective.Can’t take your eyes off Woodsy for even a second, meanwhile. His ankle, heel, (insert body part of choice) could go at any point, he could change his run-up, or he could bowl the spell of your life. And Rash – England have a legspinner who is not Chris Schofield or Ian Salisbury, and it almost doesn’t matter whether he wins them games, which, handily, he does. Even Mo, who if he’s anything right now in this ODI side, is a bowler (and Rashid whisperer).And though Stokesy isn’t really much of an ODI bowler at the moment – he has bowled more than seven overs in an innings just four times in nearly two years – you’re always watching him whenever he’s near a ball, because you can’t not.ALSO READ: ‘If I don’t know what speed it’s going to come out, the batters won’t either’ – Liam PlunkettThen, of course, there’s all that batting.Except, wait, because there’s one more guy. In that tiny space beyond which there is no more bandwidth left for love and appreciation, he exists. Where the ball’s gone soft. Where, if there was any swing, it’s long gone. Where fielders are not attackers, they are now safety nets. Where batsmen have either blazed through the start or negotiated a way past it, but either way are set. Where batsmen are now getting ready to plunder. Where grunt work is needed, the ugly overs, comes… Plunketty?Liam Plunkett doesn’t have the usual nickname (Pudsey apparently, as in the bear) but then Liam Plunkett is not your usual fast bowler.

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Plunkett is right now one of the most fascinating exhibits of modern fast bowling. If that sounds equivocal, let’s get some facts straight. Since the last World Cup, no fast bowler has taken more wickets in the middle overs of ODIs than Plunkett. There are only eight bowlers of any kind who have taken more wickets than him in that period. You’ve been marvelling at the resurgence of legspin (seven of the eight bowlers ahead of Plunkett are leggies), and at the likes of Hasan Ali, Mitchell Starc and Lockie Ferguson at various points over the last four years – how they have brought bowling back into the middle overs of ODIs. All this while Plunkett has been bossing it but nobody’s hair has stood up on their arms.Girish TS/ESPNcricinfo LtdThat’s because of the way he has done it – as the Anti-Fast Bowler. All you need to validate this is to look through his wickets at this World Cup. A slower bouncer down the leg side to strangle Tom Latham, innocent-looking length balls that somehow end up caught at backward point (Virat Kohli and Mushfiqur Rahim), nothing deliveries slogged to deep square-leg (Rishabh Pant and Quinton de Kock), mistimed pulls to the same (Chris Gayle), slogs to long-on, and so on and so forth.You see the problem? These are filthy wickets, wickets that fast bowlers might consider unflattering, even insulting perhaps. They come off cutters, short-ball cutters that sometimes look like long hops, length-ball cutters that also look like long hops, length balls at sixth stump, leg-side strangles. In those four years since the last World Cup, according to ESPNcricinfo’s records, 78% of the balls Plunkett has bowled have been length, short of a length, or just short.ESPNcricinfo LtdThese are not balls that will hit stumps or pads; accordingly he has zero bowleds and leg-befores in the tournament, and over these four years, only 12 of his 93 wickets have been from those two modes. This World Cup has been about yorkers and quick bouncers, and those are not Plunkett at all.Round about two-fifths of his wickets have come from catches in the arc between fine leg and midwicket for right-handers (third man to extra cover for left-handers) and without even looking through them all, you can draw in the mind’s eye the standard Plunkett dismissal: shortish, outside off stump to the right-hander, cutter, the batsman cross-batting it but to a man in the deep. There are fast bowlers out there who would rather be called batsmen than exist like this.So more than stamina, strength, pace or dexterous wrists and fingers, Plunkett’s bowling requires total subjugation of the ego. Which goes right to the heart of everything that fast bowling isn’t.And given how pragmatically England view him, that’s no bad thing. Often he seems like the first person they drop from an XI when looking for the right combination. He has only played five out of nine games this World Cup, and they don’t really like playing him away. He has played 42 of England’s 56 home ODIs in the four-year period since the last World Cup, but only 16 of 41 away. And his away record is as good as his home record by most metrics. They also don’t like playing him on grounds where the square boundaries are small, although he played and took three wickets against India at Edgbaston with its 59m boundary on one side.It doesn’t half seem sometimes that the only conditions England will play him on are – their second-highest wicket-taker since the last World Cup, with the best strike rate among those with 30 or more wickets – if there’s a gun pointed at their head.Ishita Mazumder/ESPNcricinfo LtdBecause this is the other thing you may have noted, namely, the identity of his victims in this tournament: Kohli, Latham (New Zealand’s highest scorer in that game), Pant and Hardik Pandya. He gets big names and he gets them at big moments. Not just at this tournament either – nearly 70% of his wickets in this four-year period are top-six batsmen.Yet you’d be hard-pressed to remember any of them. In England’s opening game against South Africa, the ball to Hashim Amla that people will remember for years is Archer’s bouncer that retired him. That was ball, 90mph at his eyes, life-threatening. The ball to Amla that nobody will remember is the one that got him, also a bouncer, but 79mph, and aimed two stumps outside off. It may have harmed a fly, that one, by our bear Pudsey.

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The Plunkett ball you might be reasonably expected to remember is one he bowled over 12 years ago, at the SCG. Yorker-full, quick, swinging late and gone, timber knocked over – Adam Gilchrist’s, no less.That was the kind of ball Plunkett was meant to bowl a lot more of; the kind of ball England hoped would see him take over the mantle from their Fab Four Ashes quartet; the kind of ball that embodied everything Duncan Fletcher obsessed about in his fast bowlers – high pace, late swing; the search for that kind of ball has ruined any number of careers.Indeed, it is a minor miracle and no little triumph that Plunkett is here right now, as close as any England cricketer since 1992 to becoming a 50-over world champion, and not on that scrapheap where lie the countless fast bowlers England burned through.We talk about how much England’s ODI game has changed in the last four years but it’s worth recalling that Plunkett was part of their 2007 World Cup squad. England have written up and scrapped entire playbooks several times since then, as has Plunkett, and yet he is the only one who has been part of both campaigns.Grunt over greatness: Plunkett isn’t going to wow spectators, but he’s going to help you win games•AFP/Getty ImagesIt’s a miracle that he has survived the overprotected, over-coached mollycoddling of those early years. Brought in too soon, bubbled up too soon, not enough time to exhale in county cricket, too much nannying, too much tinkering, too much thinking, too much advice. It’s an indictment of a certain kind of modern English cricket that Plunkett’s various rehabilitations have been marked by him needing to go back to thinking – about bowling generally, about pace, or about swing. It’s a wonder he didn’t end up like, say, Steven Finn, and instead has found a version of himself that he can make peace with.It’s a version cricket occasionally will have to make peace with as well, because Plunkett is the bowling flip side of this era of batsmanship. He is the interruption – not obstacle – to the new batting mono-rhythm of attack, attack, attack; a monster that only this swamp could have produced.

In four innings, the batsman fell playing away from his body, losing his wicket when the team needed the batsmen to resist

Karthik Krishnaswamy03-Sep-2019Shimron Hetmyer grimaced. There was just one fielder in front of square on the off side – extra cover – and he had picked him out with precision with an airy drive.Ishant Sharma, from around the wicket, had bowled it full and wide, to entice the drive, with three slips and a gully waiting for the edge and extra cover waiting for the uppish drive. It was an obvious trap, and Hetmyer had fallen for it.The ball wasn’t quite a half-volley, and it was well outside Hetmyer’s eyeline when he met it. Few batsmen can feel confident of being fully in control while driving balls that wide, and Hetmyer was batting on 1 when he played that shot.It was the fourth time in four innings in this series that Hetmyer had fallen to a drive away from his body. Twice he had driven with hard hands, well in front of his body; once, he was caught-and-bowled by Ishant, and the other time bowled through the gate by Mohammed Shami. Twice he had been out driving at balls wide of off stump – caught at third slip off Ishant, and, now, caught at extra cover.The first-innings dismissal in Jamaica prompted his captain, Jason Holder, to turn his back to Hetmyer at the non-striker’s end. You could understand his frustration; a red-hot Jasprit Bumrah had reduced West Indies to 22 for 5, and their innings had briefly looked like it could end in less than 20 overs.Holder had himself bowled 32.1 overs in India’s first innings. Then Hetmyer and he had put together something approaching a partnership. It hadn’t been the most secure of stands – Hetmyer had been dropped once, and had played-and-missed and edged numerous times, including three fours through and over the slip cordon in one over – but it had added 45 runs to West Indies’ score, in 12 overs.Holder must have been pleading with Hetmyer during the breaks between overs. Please, just hang in there. Play close to your body. Please.And then that shot.After the match was done and dusted, Holder wore a resigned look when he was interviewed by Ian Bishop at the presentation ceremony. “We were just commenting in the dressing room,” he said. “We’ve been in the field every single day of this Test series, from the first Test match to this one.”That’s right. West Indies’ bowlers never got the chance to put their feet up and get a full day’s rest. In all, West Indies’ batsmen faced 1253 balls through the Test series. That’s less than the combined total of India’s top-three run-getters.Through the series, West Indies lost a wicket every 31.23 balls. India’s bowlers earned most of those wickets, with exceptional deliveries or by applying concerted pressure and forcing errors. Hetmyer, one of West Indies’ top two or three batsmen in terms of pure ability, should be disappointed that his wicket proved so much easier to get, time after time.

Also: Has anyone lost more Tests at an overseas venue than Tendulkar has at the MCG?

Steven Lynch21-Jan-2020Marnus Labuschagne did not bat, bowl or take a catch in his first one-day international – yet Australia won it by ten wickets. Has anyone else managed this feat? asked Andrew Balding from Australia
I was quite surprised to discover that Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne, against India in Mumbai last week, became the 37th player to finish on the winning side in his first one-day international without batting, bowling or taking a catch. The list is headed by none other than Viv Richards, who had a quiet time for West Indies against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford during the first World Cup in 1975. The list also includes Jeremy Coney, Mark Waugh, Jonty Rhodes, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Mushfiqur Rahim.Only one of the other 36 instances, though, ended in a ten-wicket win (Richards’ was by nine, as were four of the others). By a remarkable coincidence, the man concerned in that one – South Africa’s Martin van Jaarsveld – was, like Labuschagne, born in Klerksdorp, about 100 miles from Johannesburg. In van Jaarsveld’s first ODI, in Benoni in 2002-03, South Africa beat Bangladesh by ten wickets. He did, however, effect a run-out in Bangladesh’s innings.For the full list of the players who finished on the winning side in their first ODI without batting, bowling or taking a catch, click here.Mark Wood hit five sixes in the third Test, but scored only 12 other runs. Was this the lowest Test score to include five sixes? asked William Green from England
Rather surprisingly perhaps, Mark Wood’s 42 for England in Port Elizabeth last week comes in only third on this particular list. The record was set just two months ago, also against South Africa: Umesh Yadav clouted five sixes in Ranchi, but was out for 31 (from just ten balls). Two months before that, Kemar Roach belted five sixes in a defiant 38 for West Indies against India in Antigua.Umesh Yadav smashed five sixes in his 10-ball 31 against South Africa in Ranchi last year•BCCIThe recent ODI at Rajkot featured nearly 650 runs but no individual hundreds – was this a record? And what would be the equivalent record without a half-century? asked V Siddhesh from India
The match aggregate of 644 runs in last week’s one-day international in Rajkot, in which Shikhar Dhawan and Steve Smith both fell just short of centuries, stands fourth on this particular list. Top is the 656 runs in the match between South Africa (326 for 3) and Australia (330 for 7) in Port Elizabeth in 2001-02, when the highest individual score was Ricky Ponting’s 92 (Darren Lehmann made 91).The others to shade the Rajkot game were India (329 for 7) v England (320 for 8) in Bristol in 2007 (649 runs, including 99 by Sachin Tendulkar), and England (351 for 9) v Pakistan (297) at Headingley in 2019 (648; Sarfraz Ahmed 97). In all, there have now been 23 ODIs that featured 600 or more runs but no individual centuries.The most runs in an ODI without a half-century is 468, by England (243) and West Indies (225) in Chennai during the 2011 World Cup, when the highest individual score was 49 by Andre Russell.Sachin Tendulkar lost five Test matches at the MCG. Is this the highest number of defeats for a player at one venue overseas? asked Nirad from India
Sachin Tendulkar is one of 11 players who have had the misfortune to lose five Tests at a single overseas venue. The England pair of Jack Hobbs and Tom Hayward also lost five in Melbourne, while Willie Bates, Johnny Briggs, Wilfred Rhodes, Herbert Strudwick and Frank Woolley (all England) lost five in Sydney, as did South Africa’s Jacques Kallis, whose tally includes the Super Series Test for the World XI at the SCG in 2005. Two early Australians, Jack Blackham and Syd Gregory, finished on the losing side five times at The Oval.But the great Surrey and England opener Jack Hobbs leads the way here, as he lost six Tests in Sydney – in 1907-08 and 1911-12, and twice each in 1920-21 and 1924-25. Hobbs did, however, finish on the winning side five times in Melbourne – a record matched for overseas Tests only by Johnny Briggs, with five wins for England in Sydney. It should be pointed out that Ashes tours down under until the late 1920s usually included two matches in both Sydney and Melbourne.Following on from last week’s question about the most balls faced by a batsman in a T20 match, what’s the record for a one-day international? Has anyone faced more than Rohit Sharma’s 173? asked Ninad Parab from Canada
Rohit Sharma faced 173 balls in making his ODI-record 264 for India against Sri Lanka in Kolkata in November 2014. That was the longest innings in a 50-over ODI, beating the previous record by one – Ashish Bagai made 137 not out from 172 balls for Canada against Scotland in Nairobi in 2006-07.However, there were four longer innings (and another of 173 balls) in the days when an ODI innings lasted 60 overs rather than 50. On the opening day of the inaugural World Cup, in 1975, Glenn Turner batted for 201 balls in making 171 not out for New Zealand against East Africa at Edgbaston. Turner also lies second on this list, with 114 not out from 177 balls a week later, against India at Old Trafford. For the full list, click here.Use our feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Since taking the Arsenal job, when the club were at their lowest point in a generation, Mikel Arteta has made some seismic changes.

Some of the most significant have come in the transfer market, as the Spaniard spent a massive sum of money building a squad capable of challenging for major honours domestically and on the continent.

In doing so, the former captain has signed an enormous number of players over the years, and while some haven’t exactly panned out, like Willian, Pablo Mari and Nuno Tavares, others, like Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Magalhaes and David Raya, certainly have.

In fact, it would be fair to say that one of Arteta’s acquisitions is now comfortably the club’s best signing since Mesut Özil joined the team over a decade ago.

Özil's Arsenal career

It’s a moment that no Arsenal fan who was around at the time will forget, Özil being announced on transfer deadline day 2013, in what was a club-record £42.4m deal at the time.

The German international was leaving Real Madrid to come to the Emirates, and saying that fans were excited about it would be a colossal understatement.

It didn’t take long for the mercurial midfielder to make good on his transfer fee either, as on his debut, away to Sunderland, he provided a brilliant assist for Olivier Giroud.

Throughout his stint in North London, the World Cup winner made 254 appearances for the club, scoring 44 goals, providing 75 assists, and playing a significant role in three FA Cup triumphs.

Unfortunately, after signing his bumper £350k-per-week deal in 2018, things started to go wrong, and he began to face criticism for his perceived lack of work rate, which worsened when Arteta took charge.

However, while things ended poorly, and he eventually left for nothing to join Fenerbahçe in January 2021, it cannot be forgotten that in his pomp, Özil was an incredible footballer to watch and, had the club built around him, he may have led them to league glory.

There have been some great signings made in the years since he left, but one potentially era-defining acquisition under Arteta could be fairly described as the club’s best since the German.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

Arsenal's best signing since Ozil

As we mentioned above, Arteta has made his fair share of impressive signings since taking the job at Arsenal, but in terms of needle-moving purchases, the spotlight falls on one player: Declan Rice.

The former West Ham United captain moved to the Emirates for a club-record fee of £105m in the summer of 2023, and while there was a mountain of pressure on him, he’s since surpassed every expectation people had of him.

In fact, the fans often sing about signing him for half-price, and while that is somewhat tongue in cheek, there is likely an increasing portion of the support that is genuinely starting to believe it.

Appearances

94

Minutes

7640′

Goals

14

Assists

18

Goal Involvements per Match

0.34

Minutes per Goal Involvement

238.75′

For example, since moving to North London, the “world-class” midfielder, as dubbed by journalist Tom Marshall-Bailey, has made 94 appearances, in which he’s scored 14 goals and provided 18 assists, despite moving between the six and eight positions.

We saw just how devastatingly effective the Englishman can be last night when he scored two stunning free-kicks against Real Madrid to give his side an incredible opportunity to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time since the 08/09 season.

On top of his impressive level of output, the 26-year-old also has some sensational underlying numbers.

For example, FBref places him in the top 4% of midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues for progressive carries and carries into the penalty area, the top 6% for assists, the top 7% for goals plus assists, the top 8% for shot-creating action from dead-ball passes and more, all per 90.

Ultimately, while Arsenal would have expected Rice to perform to a high level considering his price tag, we are not sure they nor anyone else expected him to be this good, and that’s why he’s their best signing since Ozil.

Arsenal have struck gold on "unplayable" star who's their own Bellingham

The incredible talent looks destined for greatness with Arsenal.

ByJack Salveson Holmes Apr 9, 2025