Declan Rice: Page 32 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Declan Rice

Bernard Woolley

This whole saga is nauseating. The degree of over-dependence on buying from within the league despite these obnoxious premiums is crazy.

Clrnc

Scouting is dead. Overpaying by this much just to get a DM and bowing to that idiotic club.

That said it also feels good to behave like an Arab rich club. Feels good to always be able to splash

TambourineMan

Really hoping we are close to the end of this. Great if we get our man and if we don't we can move on from this quickly. Last thing we want is for this drag out all summer and distract us from any of our other targets or alternative options.

Asterix

We can only hope that West Ham get utterly screwed by every club they try to buy from in the next 4 windows.

Gazza M

I kinda don't blame edu if he walks away from the table at this point, even though it may trigger a meltdown among gooners. it's a crazy offer. if city want to bid 110m for someone that will probably be a utility for them, they can have at it, the twats

MistaT

Keep Partey for another year and hijack the Thuram deal from Liverpool.

Or throw £85m at Brighton for Caceido.

Plenty of alternatives to taking this non lubbed Sullivan special.

Coombs

Bet Brighton want 120 for Moises.

Gazza M

brighton will take the piss for sure. they'll do the 100m stance

banduan

Hammers pushing their luck, let's just fuck off elsewhere, tell Declan we'll be in for him next season or even in Jan and hold on to Partey for a bit.

Gurgen

100m+ for this guy is a pisstake. Don't we employ any scouts? There must be at least 10 players out there who are better than Rice and cost less. I really hope we walk away.

Claudius

Gurgen name them.
When you’re second, it’s less about the scouting, and more about the obvious additions. Other than Alvarez, who are the lesser known players that City has added in recent years? It’s all been well-known, expensive players. You can add a couple of players like Vieira and Marquinhos, but right now we have to solve the issue that killed us last season - reliable top end quality.

Kel Varnsen

Claudius

If Partey and Xhaka leaves, and we don't sign Rice, I'm not sure how we improve the team for next season. Caicedo is ok, but he's nowhere near as good as Partey.

Tam

The scouting isn't just unearthing a few promising players before they explode. I think what people are grumbling about - it's certainly my perspective on it - is an expectation that scouting should identify us a list of players with the right characteristics and attributes Arteta is looking for in the role, without necessarily being tied in to having to bid the ridiculous sums we're seeing for Rice. You can throw out any of the top names, but it's less about names and all about what they bring to the team in terms of skillset and experience, and that's what you'd expect of scouting. When do you cut your losses and move on? I've said it before, I refuse to believe Declan Rice is the only player out there who can do what we need to take us on a level.

flobaba

Tam I don't disagree with you. What I will say is that clubs go for established players because of the guarantee (higher probability) that they will deliver to expectations vs scouted players who may not yet be a household name. It's a bit of a gamble. Actually, I think it's obscene. But I understand it.
Do we have a plan B? Probably. But we also probably expected to push out this far for Rice before the whole saga started. As long as we have a firm upper limit, and are willing to walk away once prices exceed that figure I'm fine with it. Finally, and admittedly to a lesser extent, at a certain point we have to stand our ground and show we won't be pushed around by other clubs when it comes to our targets. Or at least we did our utmost to secure them. If West Ham end up rejecting this bid, then I'd not mind us telling them to jog on. But we've done our own bit - shown our intent, and put our money behind it. Up to Rice and West Ham now.

Ricky1985

flobaba

Agree with all of that, mate.

I would also add that a huge part of signing players when you're trying to become the top dog is not just identifying elite talent, but personality and character.

Rice is an absolute worldy of a midfielder, there's not a doubt in my mind about it, but he's also a born leader, completely obsessed with winning and being the best, and as a big bonus, he's also going to be one of the best English players of the next decade and likely be the next England captain, too.

He is the guy you sign if you want to topple City.

flobaba

Kel Varnsen Caicedo is not "ok". He is an elite ball winner. Best in the business. At 21. His all round game will improve, but that quality alone is more than adequate replacement for what Partey brings. He can learn and improve ball distribution with time. Set him up with Jorginho and let the Brazilian handle the bulk of the distro in the interim.

I'm trying to post the comparison matrix from squawka here, but it shows basically that the only stats where Partey stands out significantly is with dribbling past players, and he fouls less. Otherwise they are closely matched, and Caicedo kills with interceptions and ball winning, and even passing.

https://www.squawka.com/en/comparison-matrix/?compare=RZK7PxuJAi2zSQMiLmlia

Ricky1985

Phil

He can every play every pass in the book, and those that are saying he can't haven't watched him closely enough. The stats also show he's an elite passer.

The only unknowns are about how he'll handle the volume of passes he'll be asked to play here, but I don't have any doubt about it at all. I think his accuracy will just go even higher and his progression numbers will explode in our system.

Qwiss

We need to pull the plug on this. That offer was already overly generous.

Ricky1985

flobaba
Yep, Caicedo's ball-winning is stupidly good!

Caicedo and Rice together would make us practically invulnerable to counter-attack! Timber might be able to give us a bit of that, though.

HomeSteak

Tier 1 for City.

Better news today about this, they will probably agree it...I don't know what to say. it's just a lot of money

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