Gunners legend raises concern over the club’s pursuit of Rice
Arsenal legend Gilberto Silva has raised concerns about the Gunners’ pursuit of West Ham midfielder Declan Rice. The club has already had two bids rejected for the 24-year-old, and now faces competition from Manchester City, who have expressed concrete interest in the player.
While Rice is believed to prefer a move to Arsenal, Gilberto believes that the club’s transfer chief Edu may end up paying an exorbitant fee for the midfielder.
The former Arsenal Invincible expressed surprise at the high price tag associated with Rice’s potential transfer, especially for a central midfielder.
Arsenal have confirmed to West Ham their plan to submit one more bid for Declan Rice — after £75m plus £15m rejected. ⚪️🔴 #AFC
Understand Manchester City are also preparing their official bid — plan has not changed. 🔵 #MCFC
Structure of deal/payment terms, key for West Ham. pic.twitter.com/kmOhlkNXfv
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 24, 2023
The Brazilian stated, “Normally you see this sort of price for strikers, not central midfielders. It feels quite high, even though there is no doubting the quality of the player, but it does feel like a very high price.”
Gilberto suggested that Arteta should consider internal solutions if Arsenal fail to secure Rice. He believes that strengthening the defense, particularly with the loss of William Saliba, should be a priority.
Additionally, Gilberto pointed out the versatility of players like Oleksandr Zinchenko, who can play in both left-back and central midfield positions, as well as the return of Kieran Tierney from injury.
Saka cooking Declan Rice before Martinelli's goal pic.twitter.com/UuZtpe1rlv https://t.co/Ueyli0Xfqw
— S👻 (@scrapytweets) June 23, 2023
The Arsenal legend recommended having players like Tierney and Zinchenko competing for the same position to raise the standards within the squad. He stated, “He needs two players like Tierney and Zinchenko fighting for the same position so that it raises the standards.”
As Arsenal continue its pursuit of Rice, it remains to be seen whether the club will be able to strike a deal within a reasonable price range. Gilberto Silva’s concerns highlight the importance of careful consideration in the transfer market to ensure the squad’s balance and avoid overspending.
Do you think the club are overpaying to acquire the services of Declan Rice?
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Rice will be an important part of the spine of the team. He will lead by example and I believe form part of the identity of the team as well. If we judge him just as a CDM it’s hard to justify the price, but I think he will bring much more to the team and the club. As I have already said before, his ‘Roy of the Rovers’ persona will elevate our progress towards becoming champions.
Agree 100%, we’re, hopefully, buying a future legend.
Always listen to Gilberto, as he knows what he’s talking about, but the stark reality is that if we don’t meet West Ham’s asking price, others will – OR – damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
I agree with Gilberto DR is so over priced and over rated … when was the last time you seen him play .. and went wow we have to have him…never… let’s shop around .. 100 million for someone who is no better than we have .. albeit 24 years old is way over priced… let man city have him at that price .. jack grelish way over priced .. wouldn’t have either of them .. just my opinion .. UTA
Honestly Declan Rice was not my favorite, In fact had actually preferred the Caicedo kid.
But the Citizens shenanigans in this whole Declan Rice affairs over the last couple of days, whether it’s from a genuine interest or an attempt to drive the price up have only strengthen my resolve that Arsenal should go ahead and make the purchase.
I think from the outset we were always going to pay a premium for Rice. However, I don’t think Caicedo is going to be much cheaper. I believe we need Rice much more than City does and I hope we get him. If we get all the players we are seriously linked with it will be a great window, especially if we can either sell or loan out the peripheral players. Of course if both Partey and Xhaka leave, which seems likely, we need to have a handful of new players.
If Partey leaves and Rice joins we still would not improve, we will need two midfielders for that matter in the mold of a mobile box to box one.
But the rumor of the fantastic fours has legs
Rice
Latvia
Havertz
Timber
What will be will be.
It would be no disaster if we failed to net Rice just like it was no disaster we failed to net Mudryk.
With Real Madrid spending a similar sum of money on Bellingham I would say we would have a good chance of signing Valverde, Tchouameni or Camavinga this summer – all fantastic players and all rated higher than Rice in CIES Football Observatory.
That’s the trouble, I think he will be good for our DM, but losing him to MC would feel like another loss to them, when they don’t even need him. They seem to have shed their FFP investigation worry – wonder if they know something we don’t? If the PL/ UEFA do nothing again, no one will take any notice.
City will buy Rice if they can, not because they need him(they already have several bag fulls in stock!), but just to stop us from having him. We gave them quite a scare last time around, so they wouldn’t want to see a stronger Arsenal if they can avoid it.
So, yes the price of Rice is high, but so could be the benefits. Reaching the top and staying there is always going to be expensive.
The Price is ridiculous, let him go to city if he wants to. I for one am not bothered at all by that. We’re not competing with city. If they want to overpay for Rice, go ahead.
United leaving the table because Chelsea rejected their 3rd bid. Well done to them, they’ve set the example and we must follow suit. Why are we allowing ourselves to be bullied by west ham, the player is leaving, if we don’t succumb to their stupid demands, Rice will be there for another year, let’s see who blinks first
I also like what manutd has done, why are we paying 100m for a player who’s contract ends next season. Arteta and Edu should for once show that they have the cojones and refuse to be mugged in broad daylight. Let city have him and look for other options.
Rice said after the ECL game that he has 2 years left on his contract not 1 year.
You make some very good points. However, as you can see from various pundits and many fans including, disappointingly, on this site there are a lot of people who suggest that Arsenal should just go ahead and pay WH what they have asked for.
Though there is no doubt we are overpaying for Rice even with the second bid of 90m talkless of meeting whu valuation of the player. but Rice is homegrown player, it’s not a doubt that he will improve us, this is not the case of Pepe. Rice is a player we are going to enjoy playing for us. though 90m is what our beloved club has bid as the 2nd bid which I also think is too much for the player. But, since ARSENAL Are willing to pay 90mil. Why can’t they just add the 10mil given they’ve just paid 65m for someone that is not first priority.
Again I think we still need partey for another one or two seasons. Because he won’t just be easy to replace.