Garth Crooks speaks on Rice price tag
The ex Tottenham player and football pundit Garth Crooks has recently come out and spoken on the £105 million price tag of Declan Rice from West Ham to Arsenal in the summer. Obviously, everyone was a bit surprised and worried when Arsenal forked out such a massive amount of money for Rice in the summer and with that price tag hanging over your head, there comes a lot of pressure.
Garth said this to the BBC after Rice was announced in this week’s BBC Team Of The Week “I thought the price tag of £105m for Rice was ludicrous. The fact that Arsenal actually paid it was quite astonishing”.
“After all, those sums of money are normally reserved for strikers scoring 20 goals a season. However, since the arrival of the former West Ham captain at the Emirates, he has looked imperious”.
“Long gone are the extravagancies of Granit Xhaka, in exchange for a far more acceptable and even-tempered Rice, who is a far better footballer anyway”.
“The ball he provided for Gabriel to head home was a peach, while his strike that put Arsenal 6-0 up was as good as they get. What is plain to see is that Rice has grown as a player since his arrival at Arsenal. He’s certainly playing for a better side and with better players, but he has acquired a confidence and authority that comes with it.”
And he’s right, at the start, spending that much money on a midfielder sounded crazy, even if you thought Rice was a great player, £105 million sounded insane but have you noticed how nobody is talking about it anymore? That’s because he’s hardly stepped a foot wrong since joining the club and the price seems to be fully justified for what we got.
Rice spent years at his boyhood club and grew into a special player in a somewhat mediocre team and with Arteta and the Arsenal squad around him he’s been able to thrive more than I ever thought he would. West Ham put what seemed like a crazy price tag at the time on his head, but it does seem like they knew exactly what they were going to lose, and it shows in this seasons performances by them.
For me, he’s been the best player in our squad this season, he brings a sense of composure in the middle and almost glides around the pitch, pushing forward and tracking back when needed. He’s just the complete package and I can only assume that with a few more years and guidance at a club like Arsenal, he’s only going to get better and better.
What’s your thoughts Gooners?
Daisy Mae
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I appreciate that we went so high to grab such a valuable player because it means that Arsenal means business
Am looking forward to our next few signings
Once I read that City were willing to pay £95m for Rice, I knew he was worth much more given they already had a certain Rodri in their squad
Rice’s boyhood club was Chelsea- he went through 7 years of their youth system until he was released at 14 and then joined West Ham.