Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher believes the Reds made a huge mistake not signing one Arsenal player who offers what Arne Slot is lacking at Anfield
Scott Trotter Sports Writer
11:25, 28 Jan 2026Updated 11:53, 28 Jan 2026
Jamie Carragher believes Liverpool should have signed Arsenal star Declan Rice(Image: Matt McNulty, Getty Images)
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher insists the Reds are crying out for a midfielder with Declan Rice’s stature to add some much-needed muscle to the centre of the park.
According to Carragher, the club’s most crucial summer signing should be a midfielder. Carragher reckons Liverpool missed a trick by not making a move for Rice in the summer of 2023, allowing Arsenal to swoop in and snap him up instead. The Reds icon believes signing Rice would have killed two birds with one stone, replacing both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, who departed for the Saudi Pro League that summer.
That transfer window saw Liverpool bring in Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo, and Ryan Gravenberch, while missing out on Moises Caicedo, who joined Chelsea in a record deal. Carragher thinks Rice, who he tips to win player of the season this term, would have been a game-changer for Liverpool.
Jamie Carragher thinks Arsenal should have made a move for Declan Rice(Image: Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
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He believes too many of the Reds’ midfielders lack the physical presence to make a real impact. “Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister are really good players, but it ends up with two or three players who do not have great physicality in there,” Carragher told The Athletic.
“The one who stands out every time I watch him play is Declan Rice. What a player, honest to god. That’s exactly what Liverpool need. For me, he is the modern-day Roy Keane.
“I don’t think he’s a Stevie Gerrard, because Stevie was more attacking. Roy did a bit of everything; press high, get the ball off the back four, everything. Declan has the set pieces, too.
“I actually don’t think we still give him enough praise. It always feels like there’s a but with him. His passing is fantastic.
Jordan Henderson and Fabinho were pivotal players in Jurgen Klopp’s great Liverpool teams(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
“No one can run past him. His set-piece delivery is as good as anything in European football.”
“Why Liverpool didn’t go for him…” he added. “The summer he was available, was the summer we were going to get rid of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho.
“My argument at the time was you buy one player (in Rice) to replace two, because he could do both the Fabinho role and also the Henderson one, pressing high, as he shows for Arsenal. Oh god, I’d have loved to have got him in a Liverpool shirt.
“For me, he’s Player of the Year this year, especially if Arsenal win the league. Then he will get the real love he deserves, and hopefully he will go and have a great World Cup (with England), too.”
