Dimitar Berbatov claims Declan Rice is not the best midfielder in the world and must still improve before he can be truly considered among the game’s elite.

The Arsenal powerhouse has made a superb start to the new campaign and delivered another man of the match performance in the Premier League champions’ 1-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield last weekend.

Rice was to the fore again last night as the Gunners ground out a 2-1 win at Slavia Prague to cement their position near the head of the fledgling Champions League table.

The England international’s excellence was rewarded with a 15th placed finish in the Ballon d’Or rankings leading to the suggestion he is now among the best central midfielders on the planet.

Berbatov, however, believes he is still not quite ready to be part of that conversation, telling beIN Sports: ‘He is good, but for me Vitinha, Jude Bellingham and Rodri still these type of midfield players are for me one of the best at the moment.’

Rice’s importance to Arsenal, however, is not in question with Philppe questioning Mikel Arteta’s decision not to rest his stand-in captain against moderate oppposition.

He added: ‘I think he is very important for the Arsenal team. There are other midfielders who are top.

‘For Arsenal he is very important and probably he should come off to rest a little bit because there are many games coming from now until December in this busy period.

‘He brings a lot of energy to every game, you know what you get with Declan Rice and he is a real leader.

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‘He wins the ball back for the second goal, getting stuck in and he’s that type of player who will do that. I like the fact he’s always committed.’