Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland have disagreed over which Arsenal midfielder stands out in the Premier League – and who they’d take in for Manchester City.
Guardiola has admitted that every team in the Prem – including City themselves – would take Declan Rice in their team. However, Haaland believes that the Manchester side would benefit more from signing his fellow Norwegian international, Martin Odegaard.
Over the last few years, there has been a continuous title battle between City and Arsenal, with Guardiola’s squad edging the fight over Mikel Arteta’s team on both occasions.
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Despite showcasing their high quality in the Premier League, the City boss has acknowledged that rivals Arsenal have some top talent in their team. Guardiola has been complimentary of the Arsenal squad for some time, especially when it comes to his former players – such as Oleksandr Zinchenko, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus. However, he has admitted that it is Rice that he’d take in his team.
City were initially linked with the England international before his £105 million move to Arsenal from West Ham, but ultimately watched him head to the Emirates. Speaking on the missed opportunity, Guardiola said: “Sometimes here we have many players we wanted and they didn’t decide to join us.
“He’s not the first one who we wanted who didn’t join us. We have a long list. Basically, they don’t want to come or the price or whatever, so it could not happen. He made his decision, a good one, and good luck. All the teams in the Premier League would have signed Declan Rice.
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“He’s an international captain for the national team of England and a young player playing a lot of games regularly. That’s why Arsenal pushed the way they pushed.” However, Haaland believes that if he had to pick one Arsenal player to join the City squad, it would be Odegaard rather than Rice.
Speaking on the 25-year-old, the star striker said: “Yes, I think so. There’s a good player, and a player that plays for our rivals. He’s just signed a new contract, so it’s not a topic, but at City we have a lot of best players in the world.”
Rice and Odegaard won’t be going anywhere anytime soon as both are tied to Arsenal on long-term contracts. Rice agreed to a five-year deal worth £105m in 2023, keeping him at the Emirates until 2028.
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Arsenal captain Odegaard also committed his future in 2023 after four seasons with the team already, extending his contract until 2028. However, the midfielder will be out for a while after suffering an ankle ligament injury earlier this month in an international friendly against Austria – meaning he’ll probably miss out on the early title clash against City this weekend.
Rice, however, will be lining up to take on the Premier League champions after serving his one-match suspension in the Gunners’ 1-0 win in the north London derby over Tottenham.