The young defensive midfielder has been linked with a move away from West Ham for some time, but this summer, West Ham fans are sure that they have seen the last of him wearing their colours. When teams such as Manchester City, Arsenal and Bayern Munich come calling and are willing to match the demands of the team, it’s bound to happen. In this blog, we are going to understand better what Declan Rice is all about, what he is good at and what the team that eventually gets his signature are getting for the price of £100M.
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WHERE IT ALL STARTED
Before going into detail about Rice and what he is good at, we have to take a look at how much football he has played in recent seasons. The breakthrough came during the 2017/18 season, when he participated in 15 Premier League matches. Since then, he took part in 80% of the possible top-flight minutes in each of the past five seasons – including every minute of the pandemic-hit season in 2019/20. That is consistency and the ability to withstand a high workload. He also has a hard shell and does not get injured frequently, giving the team a good springboard on which to build. It might be a cliche, but the best ability is availability, which rings true for Declan Rice.
Building his reputation at West Ham was key for Declan Rice, proving his worth and making it difficult for other teams to play through them. Especially, when the big games against the Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United of the league. He also made a habit of pushing on and running through challenges, spearheading attacks, which is an added asset that he has built throughout the years playing with West Ham. His performances in the UEFA Europa Conference League showed just how good he can be in a well-functioning team that attacks and defends as one.
IS DECLAN RICE REALLY WORTH £100M?
Well, you can make the case that only a handful of players are worth that amount of money, if any. Premier League clubs are able to ask for so much money due to other clubs such as Manchester United, buying average players for large sums of money. So the price tag is partially reflecting the present market of highly inflated transfer fees, especially when it comes to English players.
Apart from the price tag, Declan Rice ranks with the top three players that takes the least amount of touches to switch play, and also is a great player when deployed further up the pitch to press the opposition’s pivot. This can be easily seen when Declan Rice marked Thomas Partey in the early minutes of the match. As per news around this transfer, it’s between Arsenal and Manchester City. Both teams navigate in a similar way, trying to control the game as much as possible and the capabilities of Rice in wining the ball as soon as possible, whilst being able to switch play effectively and efficiently makes him the perfect player for either team. In this blog, we are not going to investigate which team would best suit Rice, but since Mikel Arteta was the assistant manager at City with Pep Guardiola, the philosophy behind their game is very similar.
How good is Declan Rice in Possession?
The mentality has to change if Rice joins a team such as Arsenal or Man City. The focus will be more on how well he cops under pressure whilst in possession. For example, that is what makes Sergio Busquets and Rodri integral parts of Pep Guardiola’s successful teams. A notable fact from the stats gathered throughout his playing career in the Premier League is that, his passing range is vast but many pinpoint the fact that he is sometimes too safe with his passing. He more often than not opts for the safest pass rather than the one that is harder to pull off but might result in a high-quality chance. An argument can be brought forward, stating that maybe this is because for most of the time Moyes and his coaching staff would want to keep possession and calm things down, especially when things looked grim for the London side.
Moving to another club, such as Arsenal or Man City, might give him the liberty to try more of these risky passes, as he knows that his team is well accustomed to win the ball back and make up for his displaced pass. As we stated earlier, Declan Rice ranks third in the least touches made before a switch of play. A team that is the least likely to switch the play with the passes they make are Arsenal, one of Rice’s leading suitors. Operating within a more fluent attacking side than the Hammers, Rice will undoubtedly be asked to get the ball to the feet of his team-mates as quickly as possible as opposed to crossfield diagonals. However, Rice’s strength in switching the play could be a useful weapon for Arsenal, especially when playing against deeper-block teams who defend narrow.
The style with which he plays, can be compared to Yaya Toure’s, great passer of the ball and always has it in his locker to go on a mazy run committing defenders and leaving them in his dust.
We will have to wait and see where he ends up after all the drama in the transfer window. Will it be Arsenal or will the latest treble winners get him onboard?
Transfer Saga
As of the news available to us on 27/06, West Ham are yet to accept a bid placed by either Arsenal or Manchester City. Arsenal have placed three bids in total and all have been rejected and City’s first bid of £80 + £10m in add ons was also rejected earlier today. It is shaping up to be the perfect scenario for West Ham as both City and Arsenal are eager to get Declan Rice’s services, but they need to match the demands set by the Hammers.
The structure of the deal is very important for West Ham with the asking price being a straight up £100m. A high profile signing such as this rarely get concluded in a matter of days, so we expect that this sage will continue long into the summer window. LV BET is offering various betting odds on which team will sign Declan Rice before 3rd September, the leading team is currently Arsenal at 1.72 whilst Manchester City are at 2.00.
If you are interested in other transfers and wish to place a bet make sure to visit the special page on trasfers, we have odds on who Harry Kane might sign for, Dusan Vlahovic, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and the latest on Andre Onana.
DECLAN RICE FAQs
How tall is Declan Rice?
1.85M
How old is Declan Rice?
Declan Rice is 24-years-old.
How much is Declan Rice actually worth?
According to Transfermarkt he is worth £90M
Where does Declan Rice come from?
Kingston-upon-Thames in Surrey
What is Declan Rice best position?
His best position is mainly in front of the defence in a 4-1-4-1 as played with England or forming a part of a double pivot in a 4-2-3-1 mainly played at West Ham under David Moyes.