Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland’s disagreement over Arsenal duo ahead of early title clash

Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland hold different opinions when it comes to which Arsenal midfielder stands out as one of the Premier League's bests.

Guardiola believes that every team in the Prem - including Manchester City - would appreciate Declan Rice in their midfield. However, striker Haaland feels that his squad would benefit more from signing fellow Norwegian international Martin Odegaard.

In recent years, there has been a continuous title race between City and Arsenal, with Guardiola's men triumphing over Mikel Arteta's men on both occassions.

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Despite establishing themselves as the best team around, Guardiola aknowledges that their closest rivals Arsenal have some world-class talent at their disposal. 

The City boss has always been complimentary of Arsenal's squad - and in particular his former City players in Oleksandr Zinchenko, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus - but it is Rice who he claimed to be the one player every team would want.

City had been linked with him before his £105m move to Arsenal from West Ham. Reflecting on the missed opportunity earlier this year, 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."

Things haven't worked out too badly for City, though, with Rodri now widely regarded the best midfielder in the world in a similar role to that of Rice's.

Haaland, however, maintained that if he to pick one Arsenal player to enhance Manchester City's squad, it would be Odegaard rather than Rice or Bukayao Saka.

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, having penned hefty long-term contracts. Rice agreed to a five-year commitment worth £105 million in 2023, ensuring his stay at the Emirates until 2028.

Arsenal skipper Odegaard similarly committed to the Gunners in 2023 after four seasons with the team, extending his term until 2028. Unfortunately for him, he's currently dealing with an ankle ligament injury from a September friendly against Austria and is expected to miss 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.

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