Should Arsenal break transfer fee record for Declan Rice?

Arsenal had a fantastic winter transfer window, bolstering all of the positions that needed to be strengthened. However, over the winter, a fantasy transfer story was born: Arteta wants Declan Rice this summer, and the West Ham star may be open to the move. Looking through Rice’s links, one question arose: can Arsenal afford the 24-year-old?

With his contract expiring in 2024, one might have assumed they could because West Ham may be forced to sell him on the cheap given that he is unlikely to extend his stay at the London stadium. However, if you thought so, think again.

David Moyes recently admitted, as per talkSPORT, that in order for any team to sign his captain, one would have to pay a lot of money to set a new English Premier League transfer record, with Chelsea’s midfielder Enzo Fernandez currently the most expensive PL buy.

“Undoubtedly, Declan is going to be a top player. He’ll be a British transfer record if he ever leaves West Ham,” Moyes said about Rice leaving West Ham.

Arsenal demonstrated its willingness to spend by attempting to sign Moises Caicedo and Mykhailo Mudryk. I’m not sure how Gooners can look at that, and I don’t believe Arsenal will go all out for Rice… although Declan Rice could be the long-term solution for Arsenal’s midfield.

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Tags Declan Rice

16 Comments

  1. TRYING to sign Mudryk and Caicedo. We were NOT successful at signing either of them, so you might want to proofread that last paragraph….

    1. We shouldn’t pay that kind of ridiculous amount of money for him. There are better alternatives who the unreachable media have not attached their crazy labels to.

  2. In a word?

    no

    … but we could always find plenty of ‘what ifs’ to justify his signing.

    The real question we should be asking ourselves. Are we actually interested in him? Imo, no.

    Out of things I learned about how Arteta and Edu conduct the business, probably only 2 or 3 of our signings that we made since Arteta has come in, have actually been leaked and sort of publicised. The rest were all under wraps/came to light with nothing but a matter of hours left, before the club announced them. I see no indication that the trend would change. Look at Trossard and Kiwior. Look at Sambi, Vieira, Marquinhos, Tomiyasu, even Ben White, they were all either very vague rumours or kept quiet to the last moment.

  3. OK – I’ll be the dissenting opinion. I understand and respect your opinions, even if I disagree – and I hope that you can do the same of mine.

    If we can somehow afford it (within the rules) then yes – I would do it without hesitation. Barring a significant injury to him, we’d be locking up a key slot in the lineup for the foreseeable future, with a top quality asset that fits our style of play.

    With Mudryk, we were bidding on nothing more than potential based upon a few CL games and internationals. With Caicedo, we had a whole 26 games to go on. Declan Rice represents a well-known quantity, shining as a quality player on a team where he has little-to-no support.

    The money that Chelsea paid for Mudryk was a huge risk, When I heard what was being asked for Caicedo, I was praying we wouldn’t be stupid enough to pay it. Yes, Rice’s price is inflated – as the price always is for good English players (I like Ben White, but he wouldn’t have cost even close to £50M at the time, if he weren’t English) – but you’re getting a young player, of proven quality, before he hits his prime.

    There are a lot of good players out there, who might cost less, but it’s silly to assume that we could find one who is (a) as good as Rice, (b) suited to Arteta’s preferred style of play, (c) available, (d) not even in their prime yet, (e) eager to come to Arsenal and (f) that we’re certain would be a success in the Premier League over the next several years.

    Again, this is contingent upon actually being able to legitimately afford it (which I’m not sure that we can)…

    1. I also like rice and think he would be a great signing for us. He has one year left on his contract and can start talking to club in January so West Ham could be taking a huge risk asking for a record transfer for a player with a year left on his contract and losing him for nothing. Moyes is just making noise me thinks.

      1. No he can’t. West Ham have an automatic contract extension for another 12 months so he isn’t able to talk to anyone. He is worth every penny of £100m.

    2. “shining as a quality player on a team where he has little-to-no support”
      Bit harsh – soucek was great a couple of seasons ago, and still isn’t bad, plus they have the Brazilian player, who looks pretty decent.

      I’d be willing to bet the Spanish player we tried to sign would be a much better fit for DM in our side than rice – what makes partey so important for us is not his physical attributes, it’s his intelligence to be in the right places, and his ability to control and keep the ball in congested areas. I’m not so sure rice is so good in those areas, particularly the latter.

      I could see rice potentially being a brilliant centre back, but i think he lacks a bit of the skill you’d want for a defensive/holding midfielder in our team. I also think the home grown/English factor is a massive reason he’s got such a big reputation and apparent price tag. Not worth it for the money that’s being talked about imo.

    3. Jack I do not believe you are the true dissenting opinion at all but those who take the other view are the TRUE DISSENTERS. I am certain that if all Gooners who go to Emirates were asked would thy prefer Rice or not, overwhelmingly they would answer “YES PLEASE”!

      That is my view too. He is top level English international and PREM PROVEN.

      AND STILL YOUNG. WHATS NOT TO LIKE?!!!

      Whether or not we LAND him, is an entirely different discussion, however.

  4. We can’t afford Rice. He has two years left on his contract at West Ham plus they have an option for one more year which it’s believed they will activate. He will be sold for £120 million to a Chelsea or a Man City or a Newcastle. That’s an entire seasons transfer budget on one player. We can buy several players for that kind of money.

  5. YES we should sign Declan Rice. This is more than signing an excellent player, it’s a statement of intent for the future of the club. We have not signed a player of his quality in a long time and if the Kronke’s are serious about winning titles for the years ahead then we need to show the PL and Europe that Arsenal is back. And not just back but back competing with the big spenders and attracting players of Rice’s quality. We also need to show other PL clubs that we can’t be bullied in transfer dealings. No I’m not talking about Mudryk who still was considered a high risk signing after a short run of games in the CL set a price hike way above his true value. Rice, Bellingham and the likes are players of stature, who a team can build around for the next five years. We don’t need to build around a single player we have several players of Rice’s quality in Arsenal, but bringing in class and quality to play at the levels we have reached this season is critical. I would suggest money should be spent on one or two high quality players rather than several players that need developing. I would be look at our older players and looking to replace those sometime soon. Xhaka is a player we need to consider to replace in the coming couple of seasons having someone in now who can develop into that role makes sense. Maybe that is ESR maybe not but having high quality coming of the bench of equal talent and strength is the direction we need to take. We also must not forget we have Patino joining the squad and Balogun so I think we are good up front and Nelson is coming back from injury. We need high quality play makers and players who have the right mentality. Rice, Bellingham and McAllister all fit that profile and possibly Casiedo would be another great addition.

  6. With due respect to Declan Rice’s great form and abilities, what Brighton is achieving with budget player purchases is just proof that some of the prices we are told do not seriously make sense whatsoever.

    If Rice’s situation changes with time, we can always reconsider. As it stands, we rather actively look at viable options while there’s still time.

  7. A British transfer record for Declan Rice playing for a team at bottom six is an abomination. Especially with one year contract left. West Ham is crazy. For an attacking outlet, just maybe, but for a CM, it’s just hilarious. Since now, DM covered by Partey, Jorginho and possibly Elneny, Xhaka’s position must be upgraded. He will be 32 next year. With that money, Jude Bellingham could be a possibility.

  8. God no, anything more than £80 million is far too much. Anyway, we’ve got the forgotten man of Arsenal returning from his loan to reclaim that very position for next season.😂

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