Former West Ham skipper Declan Rice’s stock is soaring. The Ex Hammer, who lifted the Europa Conference League trophy as his last act in Claret and Blue, is now highly sought after in Europe as Spain’s giants Real Madrid have identified him as their prime target for midfield.
According to Spanish soccer site fichajes.net and relayed via thehardtackle.com, England’s Rice is at tej very top of Real’s Hitlist and Arsenal are preparing to do battle with a monumental asking price:
“Declan Rice is the subject of interest from Real Madrid. The Merengues are keen on reinforcing their first-team squad by signing a holding midfielder next year. So, the 26-year-old Arsenal midfield powerhouse has emerged as a target for Los Blancos.
European giants set their sights on Declan Rice – whether they have the cash is another matter
West Ham are not believed to have a sell-on clause if Rice leaves Arsenal for Madrid
However, Arsenal will demand an eye-watering sum of €150 million to part ways with the London-born midfielder next year. So, Real Madrid must pay a club-record fee to sign Rice from the North London club, and a move may not materialise.”
According to the original Fichajes report, Madrid will have to liberate funds from player sales to get close to Arsenal’s valuation and in any case may have competition from PSG for Rice’s signature next summer.
Certainly you cannot blame anyone coming knocking for Rice: His form has been exceptional and his stature just grows and grows. Compared with the £105m West Ham obtained from his sale in 2023 when he was by no means the finished article and in view of his upward trajectory since, €150 million ( about £140 million) looks cheap.
Wouldn’t that be ironic if he ended up going to Real Madrid still with the only major trophy of his career having been gained while at West Ham?
Forgive me a cruel chuckle…
According to reports West Ham didn’t negotiate a sell on clause for Rice…..why not ??
And to think arsenal fans said he was overrated and not worth the money now they may suffer the same fate as we did when we lost him ain’t kharma a bich🤣
It was either Talk Sport or radio 5 that mentioned Artetas statement of valuing Rice at double what they paid after explaining why the Arsenal crowd keep singing “we paid a lot for Rice, but we only paid half price”.
The reason why I said that an Arab owned club could be the only ones able to afford £210 million for Rice is because of the £200 million afford to Liverpool for the aging Mohamed Salah, no Spanish or European team has ever offered that sort of money before for a player. So that is why Real Madrid or Barcelona could never afford Arsenals valuation of £210 million for Rice. Not that they would sell one of their best players anyway. That includes Saka, Saliba, Gabriel who are also close to that valuation as well.
I also think had the player not agreed to leave Westham, that Westham would have held out to over £200 million before considering selling Rice. At the end of the day, it seems to be mostly down to the player if he is willing to go or not.
He deserves to play for a club that wins trophies, so he needs to move on. 🙂
I remember a quote from Arteta saying that £105 million Arsenal paid for a player we believe to be worth double that now is one of the best negotiation Arsenal has ever made,
.
So it seems from that statement made this year, it looks like Arteta values Rice at £210 million.
I don’t think anyone bar possibly an Arab owned club could afford £210 million, but definitely no Spanish club could afford that amount.
I remember the gooner fans all over social media mocking little west ham when they took our best player from us…
My response was wait until madrid come calling he will leave at the drop of a hat…responses such as’ it wont happen as players dont leave arsenal for madrid.’!!! I will love it if he leaves arsenal… (said in a keegan voice)
No sell on clause eh will we ever learn the answer of course is no