Could Arsenal sign Declan Rice? by Jonbo
Whatever happens this season, we go into the summer needing at least two central midfielders, possibly more. One of those has to be top quality. An upgrade on Xhaka, and to ease the pressure when the Partey injuries kick in, which is becoming a bit of an issue since he joined us.
Is Declan Rice to Arsenal pure fantasy, or within the realms of reality?
Straight off the bat, no chance! If he does move, it’s Man City or Liverpool all day long. However, if he does leave West Ham this summer, I feel we have a slight chance.
It looks increasingly likely City are putting together a huge financial package for the signing of Haaland. He, or another world class striker, is the number one priority for Pep this summer. With Fernandinho leaving, they will be on the lookout for another DM/CM, but Pep very rarely starts with two DM’s, and has already plenty of options in the CM role, so that could rule out Rice, given it would be a huge transfer fee, for what would essentially be a squad position that needed filling, not a starting role.
Liverpool looks more of a likely destination than City if Rice were to leave. He suits Klopp’s style more than Pep’s. Thiago, Henderson, Milner are ageing (although still quality), and the Ox will likely be sold, so the midfield could do with freshening up, like what the Diaz signing has done for the attack. Liverpool’s squad is solid all over, but central midfield is probably the one area that they could look for a new long-term solution.
Although rumours are 99% unreliable, I have seen a lot of Bellingham to City/Liverpool links, and hardly any Rice ones to these two clubs, which also gives me a little glimmer of hope.
If Rice were to leave, then CL (Champions League) football would be a key factor. For Arsenal to have ANY hope, then we must qualify for the CL, along with West Ham not winning the EL (Europa League), thus qualifying for the CL. If West Ham do win the EL, I could see Rice staying on for another season.
The other deciding factor that gives us an edge over our rivals, is that Arsenal would be the most attractive destination outside of City/Liverpool.
There is so much uncertainty around Chelsea at the moment, and they may not even be in the CL next season given their recent form. Key players are leaving in the summer, and the days of the owner bankrolling transfers is over.
Spurs…well, they’re Spurs! Take Kane and Son out, and they are bang average. Levy wouldn’t sanction a signing of that size anyway.
Man Utd are a complete mess! They could offer more wages, but with no CL football next season, and with the state of the club, I cannot see why Rice would even consider them. Yes, Utd did recently get another exciting young English talent in Sancho, but I imagine he’s regretting it, unless he only cares about the money. I do not get that impression with Rice.
Arsenal have a very exciting young team that is growing, developing together, and improving all the time. We’ve proven that we can compete with even City and Liverpool in regards to wages. For once, we actually showed ambition in the summer, outspending EVERY club in the league. In comparison to Spurs, Chelsea, and Man Utd, we are heading in the right direction, and a more attractive option. A move to Arsenal means Rice staying in London as well.
Like City, a top quality striker is our priority this summer, so I do not expect for us to even try for Rice, but if there is no movement from either Liverpool or Man City this summer, and CL depending, we should try for him.
I am a realist, so my head says no, but then again, who would have thought of Arsenal outspending EVERY club in the world last summer! Strange, positive things are certainly happening at our club.
Jonbo
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Absolutely no chance of him going to Arsenal
A good player, but honestly Declan Rice is overrated, the amount quoted could be our entire summer budget, wont be advisable to pour it all on Rice.
No. Grossly overpriced. Poor man’s Aurelien.
Not worth the £100+ million that WH want for him.
If you gooners have £150 million available, go for it
Not worth half that😊
Brilliant, really cheered me up, back to work today but at least that gave me a laugh.Of course Arsenal should try to get Declan Rice this summer and so should Bristol City, get real.
Seeing how Elneny who cost 5 million and keep rice quiet on Sunday ,I’m not sure why anyone at the club would even think about signing him ,can’t even remember rice touching the ball .
Vastly overrated ,and personally wouldn’t even pay 20 million for him ,price inflated by the English press which is the norm for most English players .
No thanks let liverpool or Man City waste that kind of money ,but I’m pretty sure Klopp or pep aren’t that stupid .
Regarding Bellingham now that is a player who is worth the hype around him .
Dan Kit I agree with you. English players are always overhyped. Imagine some people considering us signing Clevert L of Everton what has he done this season? English overhyped players. There good cheap players out there we just need a team of people that can identify them.
Yep DCL is another one that springs to mind Sylva,unfortunately mate it looks like that rumour as some legs going by what I’ve read recently .
He would be a good addition that would improve our midfield.
Although premier league proven not worth over 70 mil, in my opinion and he is not our ideal type of player.
Seen that we are ahead in our schedule, a don’t see the gaffer pushing this deal, when Fabian Ruiz, Tchouameni and other ideal replacement will find us very attractive
Rice does not convince me that much. I still find James Ward Prowse more appealing, with a lot more to add to the team. I can imagine JWP taking our set-pieces, with the set piece training regime already on ground.
They should do whatever it takes to bring the cf into the game or the opposition will have him isolated,else it might be difficult for them.
Rice is a good player who will end up at Chelsea once they have sorted out the new ownership. The price tag of £100m is down to him being English and the length of his contract, which is 2 years plus another year that West Ham have an option on. No way can I see us going for him this summer.
Jack Grealish 2.0..Overated and laughably linked to AFC
For me rice is a very good player and I would love to see him at Arsenal! Bellingham or Phillips are very good players too. I think we’re all excited to see who finally comes in over the summer. How many Quality signings will we make?
Who is overrating him?? Football experts, The England manager, other players? Flipping heck he is miles better than our midfielders. He won’t come to us because he is going to the top (challenging for titles). However no player should be worth £100millon ….IMO
Rice played against us twice this season and not a single time did he come out on top of our midfielders, Both times they bossed the midfield so how is he supposed to be better than them
Elneny and Xhaka had him in his pocket this weekend .
So I’m not sure how he is miles better than what we have .
2 players who fans have not deemed good enough for Arsenal are now pushing us towards top 4 with their recent performances ,big ups to Wenger for helping us out even though he’s been gone 4 years
Jonbo calls himself a realist , which is how I describe myself to, so we both agree Rice will not be coming. But fairs fair, Jonbo makes a great theoretical case why he should and it makes sense , UNTIL, you remenber who owns us and how much we need spending on strikers and other positions too.
Great read , fantasy of course, but enjoyable . After all, we can all dream, even realists!
Tell me JF, what do you consider the difference between the Yank and previous owners/custodians ?
HD PLEASE READ MY ARTICLE ON KROENKE which I will be sending to JA on Thursday this week. It will set out my thoughts onKroenke in great detail and explain why I think him the worst owner we have ever had, by far. Most previous custodians in the last century or so were not so much outright owners, as chairmen or those, like Dein, who ran the club. And all were TRUE fans, until Kroenke.
In my view, non fans of a club should never own it at all. Never!
He has openly said he will either go to Chelsea or United. I think the real deal was Bruno Guimaraes but that ship has sailed now. We can look for quality signings like Neves, Renato Sanchez or Coutinho.