After England loss to Spain in the Euro 2024 final, Dutch legend Rafael van der Vaart labelled Declan Rice as “useless” and questioned what he does.
Despite some fragmented performances at Euro 2024, Gareth Southgate guided England to their third major men’s final and first on foreign soil, but they were defeated 2-1 by Spain in Berlin on Sunday night.
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While the final was close and not decided until Mikel Oyarzabal scored in the 86th minute, Spain held 65 percent possession as England attempted to counter-attack their way out of danger.
After another attempt at immortality with the 1966 World Cup heroes failed, former Netherlands midfielder Van der Vaart took aim at England midfielder Rice.
Van der Vaart claims Rice is “useless” and has failed to live up to his £100 million price tag, which saw him go from West Ham to Arsenal in the summer of 2023.
Van van Vaart stated on Dutch TV channel NOS, “£100 million for Declan Rice… what does he do?”
“He arrives to grab a ball, only to return it to John Stones.
“He is useless. If you are truly worth £100m, then you should be able to play a ball forward.”
In His Worlds?
In response to England’s defeat to Spain, Southgate stated: “Tonight we fell short; we didn’t keep the ball well enough. We actually defended effectively in the first half, limiting their options, but we couldn’t break through the counter press well enough,” he added.
“We didn’t really use the ball well until we were down a goal, after which we had a good phase in the game.
“We got the equaliser but I think the physical toll of the issues we came into the tournament with, the extra-time periods and then tonight, having as little of the ball as we did, ultimately that took a big toll.”
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