Brighton (Who are good in the transfer market) are not a splasher of cash by any means are spending 30m on a pretty unproven player from the championship. Even the fans of the selling club he is very inconsistent.
I bring this up to give an indication of what even 30m gets you nowdays.
Of course West ham want 120 million and are briefing the press they'll "demand that". SImilar to how Arsenal may say 70 million is their limit.
Most of you are panicking and taking the article as gospel. The fee will be somewhere between that which is the norm for proven PL players nowadays. Heck we were bidding 70-80m for Caicedo who last I checked had played 9 months of PL football from April to Jan when we bid for him. We also brought Fabio Vieira for 35 million on the basis of 6-8 regular months in the Portuguese league. Clubs brief papers. It's a give and take. Send exclusive gossip and in turn you have to be our mouthpiece. Ornstein does it. Cross used to do it in the hill-wood/gazidis days.
There is a bias in some quarters for english players and also a bias against english players.
My view is that Rice has the necessary defensive skills, mobility and leadership to transform this team for the next 5 years. Nobody attainable matches up with that unique combination.
