Euro 2024: Van der Vaart criticizes £100m England star, calling them "useless"

Former Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has harshly criticized Declan Rice, labeling the £100m England and Arsenal star as "useless." Van der Vaart's comments came after England's disappointing performance at the Euro 2024 championship, which concluded on Sunday.

Van der Vaart described the 25-year-old Rice as a player who is only comfortable making back passes to defenders. England suffered a 2-1 loss to Spain in the Euro 2024 final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. Nico Williams put Spain ahead in the 47th minute, but England equalized in the 73rd minute with a goal from Cole Palmer. Mikel Oyarzabal then scored the winning goal for Spain in the 86th minute.

Declan Rice, who joined Arsenal from West Ham last summer for a reported initial fee of £100 million, failed to impress against Spain. His transfer made him the most expensive English player, equalling the previous record held by Jack Grealish.

Expressing his frustration with Rice's performance, Van der Vaart questioned the player's value. He said via AFC Ajax: “€100M for Declan Rice. What does he do? He comes to collect a ball only to pass it back to John Stones. He is useless. If you are truly worth €100M, then you should be able to play a ball forward.”