Exclusive: Emmanuel Petit on Bergkamp, Henry and Arsenal star who ‘reminds’ him of himself

Jason Soutar
Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit speaking at the new Sports Betting Lounge at Grosvenor Casino Luton
Emmanuel Petit speaking with Kate Mason at the new Sports Betting Lounge at Grosvenor Casino Luton

Emmanuel Petit believes Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice is the player most like him in the Premier League, praising his “commitment” and “mentality”.

Speaking exclusively to Football365 at the opening of the new Sports Betting Lounge at Grosvenor Casino Luton, Petit also discussed Arsenal and Manchester United outcast Marcus Rashford.

We asked the 1998 French World Cup winner if there are any players in the Premier League that remind him of himself and he gave an unsurprising answer.

“Declan Rice,” Petit said. “His commitment, his mentality, his desire to win every single game, the way he wants to improve all the time.

“He plays different positions sometimes, doesn’t play in the same position he used to for West Ham, but I like him because he’s intelligent on the pitch and because he always thinks team first, he is not selfish.

“He is a perfect team-mate, so on top of that I think he is a leader, he is the kind of guy you don’t have to explain what you expect from players.

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“I am pretty sure [Mikel] Arteta loves him a lot for what he is as a player but also as a person. He reminds me a lot (of me) in terms of commitment, he never says anything on the pitch, outside the pitch.

“He is always decent with the opponents, with the referees, with his team-mates. He is very dedicated, so we have strong similarities. We respect people and that is why when I look at him, I see the same.”

Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit speaking at the new Sports Betting Lounge at Grosvenor Casino Luton
Emmanuel Petit speaking at the new Sports Betting Lounge at Grosvenor Casino Luton

The topic then changed to two of his former Arsenal team-mates, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry, who he also played with for France.

Henry is widely regarded as the greatest player in Premier League history but some people do believe Bergkamp was better.

We put the question to Petit and he replied: “Thierry was a typical striker. His aim was to score goals all the time, he was focused and dedicated about that. He was never happy leaving the pitch without scoring a goal, which is typical of strikers.

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“Dennis is a magician. I saw him doing tricks on the pitch but also at the training station, that would get some players crazy, especially Martin Keown.

“I saw so many things from him that for me, he belongs with the best players I have played with in my generation.

“We call him ‘Iceman’ because he had ice blood on the pitch, no pressure at all, no feelings on the pitch, only focused about trying to help the team win the game all the time, trying to play good football. In terms of technical skills as well, he was unbelievable with the ball, in terms of movement as well, his intelligence was great.

“I loved to play with him because he gave me some assists to score goals and I gave him some assists as well to score goals. You always knew, even if you give him a bad ball, a sh*t ball, he would transform that into gold.

“In 1998, he scored a hat-trick, I think it was against Leicester, he scored three goals and during the 1998 World Cup, he played against Argentina he scored exactly the same goal, long ball, control, it was amazing.”

Emmanuel Petit was speaking at Grosvenor Casino Luton’s new Sports Betting Lounge, which shows all major live sports around the clock, on multiple big screens.

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