The Arsenal and England player, 25, was targeted by the pundits during a discussion in which they said he doesn’t have enough goal contributions – which is preventing him from being one of the best in the league.

But Declan has now told The Athletic about how he thought their criticisms were unfair: “Because Roy Keane, Souness, Redknapp – people that talk about my goalscoring ability – if you looked at their goals, they didn’t score hundreds in their career.

“But they’re remembered for what they did as midfield players: Roy Keane breaking up play, being a hard-tackling midfielder, won loads of titles for United.

“The same with Souness. So I don’t know why when it comes to me it’s all about goals, because it’s never been my game. Since I’ve been scoring, no one has said anything.”

In 245 games, Rice scored 15 goals and assisted 13 times for West Ham.

Since moving to Arsenal he has already scored six times and registered nine assists this season in 48 appearances.

Manchester United hero Keane had told ITV about Rice: “I don’t think he’s been great this season, I really don’t. I think he’s not really kicked on.

“For all the talk about him, a lot of good PR coming out of West Ham about how much he’s worth, I think he needs to do a lot more. Doesn’t score enough goals, doesn’t get enough assists.”

Souness and Jamie Redknapp also highlighted Rice's lack of goal involvements.

In 613 appearances, Keane provided 77 goals and 45 assists.

Meanwhile, Souness scored 82 times and assisted 44 goals in 579 games – and Redknapp scored 47 goals and registered 32 assists in 374 appearances.