Declan Rice is too 'hot' in the transfer market

The West Ham shirt was too tight

A few years ago, Declan Rice was a phenomenon. His praise was so widespread in the British sports press that it triggered a counter-trend: many people tried to find ways to… criticize him, claiming that the praise was just the commentators’ habit of exaggerating. After all, Rice was a midfielder for West Ham – a team that was only concerned with staying in the league!

Of course, when the world's number 1 coach Pep Guardiola pursued Rice, determined to buy him to replace captain Ilkay Gundogan who had just left Man.City, the gossipers about the Rice phenomenon fell silent. Man.City had only joined the race for Rice's signature in the past few days. Previously, Arsenal was considered the number 1 address that Rice would aim for. Rice's main competitor initially was Bayern Munich.

Declan Rice quá 'nóng' trên thị trường chuyển nhượng - Ảnh 1. — Declan Rice (center) contributed greatly to West Ham's success

Thanks to Rice's greatest contribution, the small team West Ham not only remained in the Premier League but also won the Europa Conference League last season. It was clear: West Ham had become too cramped to keep Rice's talent. He had to be sold to a bigger team, to give him more freedom to fly. He deserved it. And it had to be, as a matter of course. West Ham had never shown that they would do anything to keep the football talent they had trained themselves.

Decide your own future

Whoever pays the highest price will get Rice? Not at all. Because he is the one who decides his own future, not the transfer fee or salary. Rice is a big fan of coach Mikel Arteta, and that is why people have naturally considered Arsenal as the next destination for this midfielder. The trouble only appears when Man.City enters the game. Rice himself will enter a different world, will be opened to a different horizon, when being trained by coach Guardiola and (almost certainly) learning more about the principles of playing midfield, about specific knowledge that he has never known before.

Rice himself is not an easy choice, while the world is still talking about a price of around £100 million, not knowing who will pay West Ham. Lionel Messi can go to America. Karim Benzema can follow a contract worth up to 400 million euros in Saudi Arabia. But in many ways, Declan Rice is the most noisy transfer that is causing the press to spend a lot of ink and experts to watch closely. There will have to be a very high transfer price, accompanied by great professional topics, related to all 3 sides: Rice himself, the new club and the old club. All will have to change, and change significantly, when this transfer is finalized.

Rice is a deep-lying playmaker (generally speaking, he always plays in the deepest position from midfield up). The statistics are simple: Rice will be the "best" midfielder, or in the top 5 or top 10 in each specific area. But those are just "dead" numbers. In reality, he is better than the numbers show. He is almost impossible to lose possession. When he intercepts or tackles, it is not just the numbers that convince (average 4.1 successful tackles/game). He often does so in extremely important situations, while also being a complete attacking and defensive midfielder. And he is very durable (always playing more than 3,000 minutes per season in the Premier League). The statistics also show that Rice is the player with the ability to quickly transition his team's defense to attack in the Premier League.

Despite having represented England 43 times, Rice is only 24. His best form is still ahead of him. This is even more so because he will be playing for a team of a much higher calibre than West Ham. He is a hot commodity because no one spares the expense: if you buy him, you might even sell him for more later!

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