Emmanuel Petit believes Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice is the participant most like him within the Premier League, praising his “dedication” and “mentality”.
Talking completely to Football365 on the opening of the brand new Sports activities Betting Lounge at Grosvenor On line casino Luton, Petit also discussed Arsenal and Manchester United outcast Marcus Rashford.
We requested the 1998 French World Cup winner if there are any gamers within the Premier League that reminds him of himself and he gave an unsurprising reply.
“Declan Rice,” Petit mentioned. “His dedication, his mentality, his want to win each single sport, the way in which he needs to enhance on a regular basis.
“He performs totally different positions typically, doesn’t play in the identical place he used to for West Ham, however I like him as a result of he’s clever on the pitch and since he all the time thinks staff first, he isn’t egocentric.
“He is an ideal team-mate, so on prime of that I believe he’s a pacesetter, he’s the form of man you don’t have to elucidate what you count on from gamers.
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“I’m fairly certain [Mikel] Arteta loves him so much for what he’s as a participant but in addition as an individual. He jogs my memory so much (of me) by way of dedication, he by no means says something on the pitch, exterior the pitch.
“He’s all the time respectable with the opponents, with the referees, together with his team-mates. He’s very devoted, so we’ve got sturdy similarities. We respect folks and that’s the reason once I take a look at him, I see the identical.”
The subject then modified to 2 of his former Arsenal team-mates, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry, who he additionally performed with for France.
Henry is extensively thought to be the best participant in Premier League historical past however some folks do imagine Bergkamp was higher.
We put the query to Petit and he replied: “Thierry was a typical striker. His purpose was to attain targets on a regular basis, he was targeted and devoted about that. He was by no means completely satisfied leaving the pitch with out scoring a purpose, which is typical of strikers.
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“Dennis is a magician. I noticed him doing methods on the pitch but in addition on the coaching station, that might get some gamers loopy, particularly Martin Keown.
“I noticed so many issues from him that for me, he belongs with the very best gamers I’ve performed with in my technology.
“We name him ‘Iceman’ as a result of he had ice blood on the pitch, no stress in any respect, no emotions on the pitch, solely targeted about attempting to assist the staff win the sport on a regular basis, attempting to play good soccer. When it comes to technical expertise as nicely, he was unbelievable with the ball, by way of motion as nicely, his intelligence was nice.
“I liked to play with him as a result of he gave me some assists to attain targets and I gave him some assists as nicely to attain targets. You all the time knew, even should you give him a nasty ball, a sh*t ball, he would remodel that into gold.
“In 1998, he scored a hat-trick, I believe it was in opposition to Leicester, he scored three targets and throughout the 1998 World Cup, he performed in opposition to Argentina he scored precisely the identical purpose, lengthy ball, management, it was wonderful.”
Emmanuel Petit was talking at Grosvenor On line casino Luton’s new Sports activities Betting Lounge, which exhibits all main reside sports activities across the clock, on a number of large screens.
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