Declan Rice of West Ham has been on the transfer radar of Chelsea and Manchester United. (GETTY Images)
Speaking on this weekend’s edition of Soccer Saturday via Sky Sports as quoted by the Express, former Arsenal star Paul Merson has cautioned Manchester United and Chelsea from paying West Ham’s asking price of €120million for midfield ace Declan Rice.
Both the London and Manchester based clubs have been long-term admirers of the English international and Rice is apparently ready to move on from West Ham in the summer in search of Champions League football. The Hammers are not keen on selling their midfield star. Rice has a contract with the Irons until 2024 and given that he is yet to agree on a new deal, West Ham could be forced to move him on for good value come the summer.
Rice has been at West Ham since 2013 and has gone on to form an amazing duo with Thomas Soucek at the base of the Hammer’s midfield. The former Chelsea academy graduate predominantly plays as a holding midfielder for both club and country.
Having already won 27 caps for England, after making the switch from Ireland, it is very evident as to why Gareth Southgate trusts him. The 23-year-old is very good on the ball, has great passing ability, sweeps up balls at the back and also occasionally makes driving runs forward. Soucek and Rice complement each other very well and they have been the pillars in David Moyes’s revolution at West Ham, in the last two seasons.
Former Spurs captain, Michael Dawson said on Soccer Saturday, that although he understands Rice’s desire to play at the highest level, the buying clubs will have to shell out up to €120m to pry him away from West Ham. Paul Merson, however, disagreed that although the midfielder was very good, clubs should not match the price that West Ham are asking for him.
“Declan Rice? That’s a lot of money”
Merson went on to explain his point further by stating that Rice is not the kind of player who could give a team 15 goals a season. While goals certainly do win games, denying defensive stalwarts their due is akin to living in denial.
“He’s not giving you 15… he’s not Frank Lampard. “
If Chelsea were indeed going to shell 120 million to bring in the talented midfielder, they would be ruing the fact that they let Rice leave in 2013 from the youth team. However, by no means will that make Rice a bad signing for Chelsea.
Chelsea play with a double pivot under Thomas Tuchel and Rice is no stranger to playing in such a system. Although the Blues have Jorginho, Kante and Kovacic as regular starters, adding Rice to the mix will increase the quality in midfield manifolds. In the future, if Chelsea shifts their system to a midfield three, Rice could play as the single pivot, with Mount, Kovacic or Kante ahead of him.
Although Merson may think otherwise, in today’s footballing scenario it does not seem extremely impossible to see a Premier League team shelling out in excess of 100 million for a player of Rice’s calibre. Despite just United and Chelsea being reported as potential suitors at the moment, if Rice is available in the market, many more Premier League giants could be involved in a bidding war for Rice.
The Blues could have an advantage due to the fact that they have a history with Chelsea, but it remains to be seen as to where Rice would go.
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