Has there been a better team on the continent than Arsenal in 2024? Perhaps not. The Gunners have soared to the top of the Premier League table courtesy of some stunning performances, breaking records left, right and centre.
Mikel Arteta's mighty Reds are yet to drop points in the league this term and over the course of their last eight matches have scored a staggering 33 goals.
They scored two plus goals in eight consecutive halves of football, the first team in Premier League history to do so and have reduced their opponents to just an xG of 4.9 in that time. For those of you who are less familiar with that metric, it basically means they have been phenomenal at the back.
You'd be forgiven for thinking Arsenal have been at full strength in that time but they have not. Gabriel Jesus has largely been absent courtesy of a knee injury while Oleksandr Zinchenko has also been sidelined.
Kai Havertz – who has four goals in his last four matches – and Jakub Kiwior have both stepped up to the plate admirably in their absence. The latter was merely a peripheral figure heading into 2024 but has been their most improved presence, having a hand in four goals of his own in the last seven games across all competitions.
However, there is one man who just continues to deliver week in, week out and is arguably getting even better; Declan Rice.
Declan Rice's season in numbers
What can you say about Rice that hasn't already been said? Very little but the list of superlatives you can throw his way are extensive.
Valued at £85m as per CIES Football Observatory might suggest that when Arsenal coughed up £105m for the player last summer they overpaid a tad. However, most adoring supporters at the Emirates Stadium would chuck another £100m West Ham United's way if they could. Simply, he has been that good.
Rice has won points on his own this term, notably scoring dramatic late winners against both Manchester United and Luton Town but it's in 2024 when granted a freer role ahead of Jorginho that goal contributions are following in abundance.
The England international has registered four assists and three goals in the league this calendar year, registering three involvements in each of the last three outings, assisting versus Newcastle before popping up with a strike in the 6-0 thrashing of Sheffield United and a vital headed goal against Brentford last time out.
In the process, the 25-year-old is becoming the master of the set piece and indeed the master of arriving late in the box, Aaron Ramsey style.
Signed for what he could bring defensively, it says it all that we're now discussing the midfielder's attacking attributes. Sitting in the top 13% of Premier League midfielders for percentage of dribblers tackled and the top 10% for carries – as per FBref – this really is a player who has it all. £105m feels like a bargain now.
If Rice continues to excel and improve at his current rate then it would not be a surprise to see him go down besides the likes of Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp as club icons.
Speaking of Bergkamp, he's a player who would be worth a pretty eye-watering sum of money in the modern market as well.
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Dennis Bergkamp's transfer valuation in 2024
Like Rice, Bergkamp was a master of manipulating the ball to do exactly as he pleased. A more forward-thinking player, of course, the great Dutchman found the net on 120 occasions in 422 outings for the Gunners, also supplying 103 assists as if that goal tally wasn't already enough.
Such a record in front of goal puts him fourth on the list of Arsenal's all-time top scorers, cementing himself as a legend of Highbury in the process. This was well and truly a transfer where the club struck gold.
#1 Thierry Henry
228
#2 Ian Wright
179
#3 Robin van Persie
132
#4 Dennis Bergkamp
120
#5 Theo Walcott
108
#6 Alan Smith
106
#7 Olivier Giroud
105
#8 Joe Baker
94
#9 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
92
#10 Paul Merson
92
There are arguably very few players that live up to Bergkamp's extreme quality in Premier League history. Standing at 6 foot, he had the height to trouble defences but it was the technical ability, and to be quite frank, his aura that made him so special.
Remember that goal against Newcastle? Of course, you do. The way he spins the defender is a thing of beauty before rolling the ball home in jaw-dropping fashion.
Initially signed for a fee of just £10m by Arsene Wenger after leaving Inter Milan behind, it's remarkable to think what he could cost in the modern market.
Well, fortunately the numbers have been crunched and we have the answer thanks to Totally Money.
They have taken the 100 most expensive transfers of all time across each season since 1992 in Europe's top five big leagues and armed with plenty of historical financial data have calculated what footballers of yesteryear would be worth in the present day. That's after taking into account the remarkable rate of inflation in the sport.
So, what's the answer? Well, the whopping sum of money would be £96m. That's more than the aforementioned £85m Rice is now valued at, as per CIES.
For further context, Thierry Henry's £14.5m move from Monaco would be worth just shy of £50m in today's market. Sylvain Wiltord's £15.7m transfer from French shores to Highbury would now see Arsenal cough up £40m.
Dennis Bergkamp (1995)
£10m
£96m
Mesut Ozil (2013)
£42m
£77.5m
Jose Antonio Reyes (2003)
£18m
£75m
Alexis Sanchez (2014)
£38m
£69m
David Platt (1995)
£6m
£61m
Granit Xhaka (2016)
£40.5m
£55m
No doubt this is all a bit of fun but it demonstrates just how much money is now involved in the modern game.
We might not ever reach the £200m PSG paid for Neymar again but transfer fees have clearly escalated a remarkable amount over the last 30 years. It's no wonder teams are now finally succumbing to financial fair play and profit and sustainability rules.
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