Arsenal might want to take note of Gary Neville’s words about Declan Rice’s value in the transfer market.
The England international is a hugely important player for West Ham and is becoming a key player for his country as well, suggesting that he’d surely fit in well at a big six side as he approaches what should be the peak years of his career.
Arsenal have been strongly linked with Rice by the Evening Standard and others in recent times, but it could take big money to prise him away from the London Stadium.
That’s where Neville starts to get a bit concerned about Rice being over-hyped, as he made it clear he doesn’t quite view the 24-year-old as being in the same category as top midfield players like Rodri or Casemiro.
The pundit says he’d be concerned about his old club Manchester United paying £100million for Rice, so Arsenal might want to consider what their budget would be for this player when there might be better-value options on the market this summer.
“There’s no doubt for West Ham he’s their best player,” said Neville, speaking on Sky Sports, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News. “He is influential. He’s been brilliant for England, I think the only sort of criticism comes in the supposed price tag being asked for him is around £100million.
“When you get a £100million player you expect they are going to be the complete player, so from that point of view is Declan as good as say Rodri or Casemiro receiving the ball from the back four? Is he as good as say Bruno Fernandes going forward, or a player of that ilk? No.
“He fits in between a little bit of both of them, there’s no doubt he’s an excellent player, great character, someone who is important to his club, but I think the challenge is who’s going to pay £100 million for him and is he that type of value? It’s not so much a criticism, more an observation around his ability relating to that price.”