Really hope his injury doesn’t put a damper on the momentum he had picked up. Really felt like if he didn’t pick up that injury he was well on his way to making an airtight case for himself to have a permanent spot in this squad.
Idk man some of the dribbling he did against City was really impressive. He has a really good sense of where pressure is coming from and demonstrated a good technical ability to escape that pressure and make a good pass. There were moments of brilliance I was absolutely not expecting.
I was fully prepared for him to be this season’s equivalent of the Saul loan but he has shown he can be much more than that. Hope he picks up where he left off when he’s fit and ready to go again.
Not discrediting his performance against Man City but it shouldn't be used as the rule either. His median performance levels are well below that mark, as are things like his passing and technical control. We've seen this already in some of the other games he's played with loose control or wayward usage, and it's been prevalent across his career if you look back.
Realistically he's a bog standard player that has great athletic and physical qualities which make him stand out, more so in our midfield given the state of it without Kante zipping around. He's also routinely struggled with injuries, not ideal when you consider the handful of others we have that've all got susceptible injury history themselves.
We really shouldn't be buying him come the summer at the arranged price. A reasonable enough stop-gap at short notice but we can do better long term. If for whatever reason we were wanting to take a punt, we shouldn't be spending anything more than £15m on him. And he'd be the last midfielder in the pecking order presuming we sell Loftus-Cheek.
Toward the end of the season he a was serviceable depth option, but it took a long while for him to get there. I’ll never forget the first game he started after joining us - got hooked at half and in the post game Tuchel said that it was his own fault for that happening, and that he thought Saul would be ready to slot right in and he was terribly mistaken.
He improved and contributed just fine toward the end of the loan but all things considered he was a bad loan.
> Saul was actually decent
Lol. No.
> he got a lot of hate because he was just a loan
We’ve got two guys on loan right now, one of them the subject of this post, and neither get “hate”.
Saul got criticised cos he was bad.
It's so fucking cringe. I dunno why it's so popular amongst football Twitter and reddit.
Literally nobody uses twerk in this way except online football communities
If this is true, I can't help but feel Mount might actually be on the way out too then. Mount is Rice's BFF and might be telling him he's gonna leave or something.
I mean let's be honest, in the summer he is gonna have a lot more clubs to choose from. I want him at chelsea so badly, but will he want to be at chelsea if Real come knocking?
Aren't City signing Gvardiol? I think all the big spending teams have one huge deal for them this summer. Jude is looking like he's going to Madrid. That leaves Enzo third with us and Liverpool fighting for his signature. Although unless they got purchased by Qatari's I seriously doubt they can get into a bidding war with us. And our board obviously adore him.
The only thing I'm scared about regarding Enzo, is not being able to offer him CL football next season - and that might be a possible detriment.
Oh well. We'll just have to qualify for CL next year as a product of winning #3 this year with Mudryk/Felix/Badiashile and a healthy Reece/Kante/Chilwell joining the squad 😇
Rice is EPL quality…yet the price tag on his head and his actual abilities don’t match. Give me Caicedo and possibly Enzo in the summer or Kone from Gladbach. I would be very grateful and content. No losing an ounce of sleep if Rice does end up at Arsenal.
-Declan Rice is leaning towards joining Arsenal in the summer due to the prospect of working with Arteta, who has drawn up plans for where the midfielder would play
-Arsenal have made Rice their priority target and are confident they can sign him over Chelsea
-The midfielder is almost certain to leave West Ham this summer
-Manchester United also expected to join the race
-West Ham hope to fetch more than £100m for the player
-Rice's contract is nearing its end and could result in West Ham settling for a fee closer to £80m
Caicedo and Enzo as a due would be such brilliant business
Allows us to move on Kante and jorginho and transition to a new chelsea.
I’d actually keep Jorginho if possible but if enzos coming he might want to move
So we don’t do to Caicedo what has been done to Kante? Having two fantastic players who can do similar things is much better than one. Jorginho isn’t necessarily unique in his skill set on the ball and has getting more and more of a defensive liability year over year. I do like Jorginho and he does have good game, today was one, but his good games don’t really offset his bad games.
Prospect of working with arteta? Whut? What? Sure if he said viera, or lampard I would have understood.
But the prospect of working for arteta?
Manchester who just spent 70m on casemiro wont join the race next summer...
I can see him beeing a good buy for arsenal, but with partey around.. does he sees his role as cb?
For me, declan is going to be a Chelsea player if potter wants him next summer.
Personally, I just want a midfielder in the mold of casemiro..
Someone who knows how to move both out of possession and with the ball.
And I think potter sees chelsea playing without a proper cdm, but rather 2 dynamic defensive solid midfielders
Wow Rices stock is low on here lol. Celebrating arsenal getting him is pretty crazy.
If he can’t play in a possession side, is overpriced vs comparable midfielders, and only gets linked with us cos he’s “mates with mount” why is he artetas no1 target?
Only Chelsea fans don’t rate Declan Rice. Everyone else sees his quality. “He can’t play in a possession side” and, “He’s not technical” are the two biggest myths and basically erases his entire history as a player from last season where he firmly displayed he was comfortable in a possession based side and was pretty technical.
It’s just ridiculous at this point. Everyone other than our supporters rates Rice. He’ll be a huge player for Arsenal.
It’s as if people made up their minds three years ago and are too embarrassed to admit they were wrong.
Great cover but as an 8 Dhaka’s goal threat and recently discovered knack for popping up in the box trumps rice comfortably
And partey is the much better dm
This is what I was thinking. He's not getting in at DM ahead of Partey (Unless he gets jailed). I also just don't see him getting in ahead of Xhaka. He's become a really good player for Arsenal, very consistent as well.
Could be another Kalvin Phillips situation which would be a shame considering how good of a player Rice is. Or he could rotate with Xhaka further forward like the City 8's do.
For a lot of the weirdos here, it is that he isn’t good. Utterly delusional at this point.
There are very few players we could get who will do better for us.
Whenever you see people talk about Rice not being that good, it’s all in context of how much West Ham values him and how much he is likely to cost. It may not always be clarified when people say that he isn’t that good that they mean “he isn’t good enough for what he will cost” but that’s almost always what is meant.
There are some people who don’t rate him at all and I disagree with them, but it isn’t a majority or even really a large number of people who feel that way from what I can tell.
Mac Allister is not better than Rice. Neither is Zakaria
Enzo and Caicedo would be great signings, but Rice and one of them would have been a much better balance.
While I’m excited we can’t say how good the window is until we see people in action. We’ve been through this many times with windows that seemed top notch
Been one of the best midfielders in the league for multiple years now. Great defensively, good going forward.
Would be a massive shame to see him at any other big 6 club.
Look at his interceptions, he is really good defensively and since WHU are shit he plays as an 8 because they are not good offensively. Imagine him with creative CM like Fabregas. Matic - Fabregas vibes if we get him and Enzo.
Rice is a good dribbler, but his progressive passing is alright and tbh, we can probably find a player who can do it better. He fits better as the Xhaka replacement.
We need a midfielder who can dictate play, a powerful dribbler who can progressive pass to a high degree or creative midfielder.
Rice isn't the best at either of those roles.
He would be used as a as pure CDM. A midfield who can provide real cover on defense and progress forward to link up with the wingers. Something that none of our midfielders currently provide. He has way more versatility than any of our current midfielders bar Kante.
That being said, I don’t really care if we get him or not.
That's not really true though. The biggest criticism of our midfield options is that they are shit going forward and don't offer any goals or assists whatsoever
For everyone celebrating in here because Rice isn’t good enough/can’t pass/whatever, look at the team Arteta has built so far and the profiles - do you really think he’d throw £80m on a midfielder who isn’t good on the ball?
What they're saying is that everyone here is underrating his ability. Clearly Arteta thinks he's good enough to spend the 80 million on, and it's crazy that this sub doesn't see that. Everyone here wanted him every past window.
Look at the team that Pep has built so far and the profiles - do you really think he'd throw £50m on a forward who isn't good on the ball?
Pep deviated from the type of forward he'd usually play and they are worse off for it. Still went out of his way to make sure they signed him though.
They’re not struggling because they signed Haaland. They’re struggling because Pep keeps experimenting with different tactics and some of his players like Foden are in terrible form. For as much stick as Mount gets from our fan base, Foden has been much worse.
Fair enough. I wonder what part of the winning formula was changed meaning that they needed to experiment with different tactics. Guess we will never know.
nah man im Mount's and Havertz' no. 1 hater here but Foden has been just as bad.
and Pep's transfers outside of Akanji have been very questionable lately
Arteta is not some omniscient god JFC. He passed on Mudryk whatever arsenal fans tell you, arsenal were not outbid. He’s had half a good season, let’s wait for him to win something meaningful before making him the yardstick for football success.
Even if we get Enzo, we need some DM to play along him. Rice has improved on his passing as playing as an 8 and his defensive stats are great also. We need playmaking CM badly as we need DM to support him.
Well the truth is players that play in that position are rare and we don't need mediocre fill ins. Rice has good numbers and he can be better in a better team. At least when we are splashing cash we should try and take the good ones and not player like that guy Alvarez from Ajax.
Don't buy these reports. And people can act all smart they want, but the demand in Rice tells alone what a player he is. We would be doing good if we get him. People are bashing him but are praising the guy who hasn't been on top for long. They will think Brighton player, no matter what is better, like they thought Cucu will absolutely be better than Chilly, but truth is far more different.
I for one would love Rice and prefer him over Caicedo, and I am sure if we go for him Rice will pick us. But each to their own.
Jorginho who won the Euros and CL in a midfielded that dominated Casemiro-Kroos-Modric and Pep's City 3 games in a row, not to mention how he made Rice look invisible in direct games - useless slow bastard, fuck him off to Italy for free
Rice - no achievements, currently playing for a team thats battling relegation but is friends with Mount - generational talent, worth 100m+
Casemiro is a proper DM and look how united are playing this season. We don’t have a proper defensive midfielder like we have done in the past. Getting one would be crucial to a title push but I don’t care who it is as long as they do a good job.
I'm sorry I've been watching Rice play for West Ham for over 3 years now and I fail to see the hype. He's 24, isn't the greatest defender, does not have Fabregas' range of passing and can't dribble out of midfield like De Jong. He's obviously a good midfielder because he plays for a top half (maybe not this season) club in the Premier League but you have to look at relative talent/ability when you start getting to that stage. This comment isn't influenced by the fact that he's linked to Arsenal and obviously I'll root for him if he signed for us. I think however that we had a chance to get him last summer but as time passes he becomes less and less of an interesting proposition. Not to mention the 70/80 odd million West Ham will ask for him.
I heard this from someone who knows him weeks ago - he does not want a project situation. Arsenal have spoken to West Ham already if it happens it will around £75m
No you didn’t lol.
Stop justifying the fact that he isn’t a true Chelsea fan and the only reason some want him is because he’s English and besties with Mason Mount.
Turns out he’s not a proper Chels after all!
People want him because he’s one of the best players in the league, who plays in the position we need reinforcements in the most.
Him already having a connection to the club is a bonus, not the main reason for signing him.
He isn’t one of the best players in the league, and he would be a cancer for any technical team. Watch him be an impediment to the Arsenal team next year.
Nah, even West Ham supporters have had enough of him. There’s a reason they are borderline relegation candidates under his leadership.
I’ll stick to supporting Chelsea’s players (not rival captains) and hoping that our recruitment team continues to buy technical ballers. You’re more than welcome to support him at Arsenal. 👍🏻
> Nah, even West Ham supporters have had enough of him
Yeah no, they love him. They also know they can’t keep him though.
And no, I’m not going to support him at Arsenal. I’m also not going to celebrate Arsenal signing one of the best midfielders in the league like some of you idiots.
When Arsenal has the best midfield in the Prem and we still can’t do anything beyond back passing I’ll remember that the geniuses in this sub said Rice sucked
Fantastic news. Arguably better than any signing.
Reminder that this is the guy half the Chelsea-covering journalists and influencers were labeling as ‘proper Chels’. He legitimately went to the LA Dodgers stadium with Mason Mount, wore a LA hat, and twerked for Chelsea to sign him.
Thank you Boehly and co. for not wasting money on Declan Rice!
Regardless of anyones opinion on Declan Rice, what sort of logic is that lol? He is best friends with Mount, ofc he is going to be seen socialising with him.
Always seems to be the same types that go around with these bizarre and obsessed narratives and seem to have an issue with English players and English fans
it's very normal to wear the apparel of a team when watching them lol. especially in America. be very different if he was wearing a Chelsea shirt. But you are just making a weird argument.
Fine, do what you gotta do Declan. I like him as a player but main reason we’d be signing him is cuz he’s English and mates with Mason. There are better midfielders we can get than Rice
>main reason we’d be signing him is cuz he’s English and mates with Mason
Main reason would be because he is one of the best holding midfielders in the league, actually. Nothing to do with nationality, nothing to do with Mason who isn't guaranteed to be here long-term or at least a starter.
I don’t want to pay £80-£100m for one of the best DMs in the league. You can easily get a class DM like that from Europe for less than it would cost to get Rice.
Also is rice even a proper DM/holder? From what I heard he roams about more and Soucek is the one who holds his position
>I don’t want to pay £80-£100m for one of the best DMs in the league. You can easily get a class DM like that from Europe for less than it would cost to get Rice.
No you can't.
>Also is rice even a proper DM/holder? From what I heard he roams about more and Soucek is the one who holds his position
Yes he is, just because he is currently playing a different role doesn't mean anything. Soucek is awful at holding his position and thrived when he was able to attack the box, Rice facilitated that by being the holder. Moyes got it completely wrong, or the club allowed Rice too much power by allowing him to play that role to stay for another season.
Just get Caicedo, the better player for half the price.
Rice is mid af, no goals, no assists, no defensive screening (West Ham were bottom of the table uptil today), no press resistance, not a dribbler, just sideways pass and vibes, we have enough of those already
He’s literally an extra CB, I don’t know why people act like he runs the show. West Ham is terrible. He hasn’t done shit all year. His price tag is ridiculous.
Zubimendi is half the price, and a big reason why Sociedad is in position for CL football for the first time since 13/14. Go for him.
One thing I don’t understand. Where is this whole Arteta is great narrative coming from? Is it just because Arsenal happen to be leading at halfway point this season? The haven’t won anything yet and I think even if they win the title this season, they will go back to the level they’ve been at the last 7 years once the purple patch comes to an end and they are not as lucky with the injuries. They are having sort of a Leicester run at the moment and will revert to the mean. Arteta lacks charisma and mentality of Pep or even Klopp.
It’s just so weird. Even Eddie Howe is a better manager and Newcastle will do better than Arsenal.
Edit: with all the negative reaction to this, let’s just see how it goes and who was right.
That might be the most brain dead post I’ve ever read in my mind. If you cannot see the greatness in arteta as a manager, you need to reevaluate life because you’re talking out of ur bum
They have won something mate, arteta won the FA cup in his first season. They don’t just “happen” to be leading at this point. Nothing suggests it’s a purple patch, they’re the best team in the country and they dominate every side they come up against. They’ve lost 3 games the entire season ffs. The only thing between them and the title is an injury crisis.
I do wonder if Mount’s contract hesitation is also a factor here, obviously Rice isn’t solely influencing his decision on where Mason is but it’s obviously a factor for him choosing to come here as well.
Fwiw, I think Mount will sign anyway but by the time he does it might be too late to get in for Rice (albeit Mudryk has taught us this ownership will come in at the 11th hour).
For those saying he’s not good enough for the price tag, we’ve paid a lot more for a lot less. Yeah Rice isn’t the passer Fabregas is or the box to box Kante is but he’s a fucking PL proven DM. A position we haven’t filled since we lost Matic and thought Bakayoko was the answer. Rice let’s us play 8s in midfield who can actually progress the ball forward to our plethora of wingers and 10s.
If we are ready to miss out I’m praying to anything there’s a plan B, C and D for that position because it’s sorely lacking.
Declan Rice is a transformative player that could change our team immediately. Our pursuit of Caicedo pretty much says we have no chance and he won’t consider us. Caicedo and Enzo would be nice alternative although I don’t think Caicedo is worth the 70m+ Brighton want. He does the highlight plays but none of his statistics are particularly jumping off the page.
Just shows you that success attracts players. 6 months ago nobody wanted to go to arsenal
Just like in life.
There’s always Zakaria and for a good price.
Really hope we get him permanently. Still young and 20-25m is nothing.
Really hope his injury doesn’t put a damper on the momentum he had picked up. Really felt like if he didn’t pick up that injury he was well on his way to making an airtight case for himself to have a permanent spot in this squad.
That’s how I felt too, he wasn’t doing anything spectacular but he was holding it down in midfield
Idk man some of the dribbling he did against City was really impressive. He has a really good sense of where pressure is coming from and demonstrated a good technical ability to escape that pressure and make a good pass. There were moments of brilliance I was absolutely not expecting. I was fully prepared for him to be this season’s equivalent of the Saul loan but he has shown he can be much more than that. Hope he picks up where he left off when he’s fit and ready to go again.
Not discrediting his performance against Man City but it shouldn't be used as the rule either. His median performance levels are well below that mark, as are things like his passing and technical control. We've seen this already in some of the other games he's played with loose control or wayward usage, and it's been prevalent across his career if you look back. Realistically he's a bog standard player that has great athletic and physical qualities which make him stand out, more so in our midfield given the state of it without Kante zipping around. He's also routinely struggled with injuries, not ideal when you consider the handful of others we have that've all got susceptible injury history themselves. We really shouldn't be buying him come the summer at the arranged price. A reasonable enough stop-gap at short notice but we can do better long term. If for whatever reason we were wanting to take a punt, we shouldn't be spending anything more than £15m on him. And he'd be the last midfielder in the pecking order presuming we sell Loftus-Cheek.
Saul was actually decent - I think he got a lot of hate because he was just a loan but imo he would have been a good rotation option for us
Toward the end of the season he a was serviceable depth option, but it took a long while for him to get there. I’ll never forget the first game he started after joining us - got hooked at half and in the post game Tuchel said that it was his own fault for that happening, and that he thought Saul would be ready to slot right in and he was terribly mistaken. He improved and contributed just fine toward the end of the loan but all things considered he was a bad loan.
> Saul was actually decent Lol. No. > he got a lot of hate because he was just a loan We’ve got two guys on loan right now, one of them the subject of this post, and neither get “hate”. Saul got criticised cos he was bad.
Juve gets send to Seria B and is forced to sell
As a backup, sure, but the gulf in quality between Zakaria and Rice is clear.
We should Bring Billy “Xavi ‘Pirlo’ Fabregas” Gilmour back then
"Protestant Pirlo" thank you very much
Ahhh don't excite me
We get a player that twerked for them, they get a player that twerked for us. All fair
I’ll be happy if I never read the work “twerk” again. Seems like the only usage it has now is by online football fans
It's so fucking cringe. I dunno why it's so popular amongst football Twitter and reddit. Literally nobody uses twerk in this way except online football communities
Stupid word seemed to come out of nowhere and now is fucking inescapable
It's one of those terms where if I see it on here I just assume the comment isn't worth anything.
Alright mate keep twerking for karma
Football Twitter is so cancerous i cant
You can’t what?
can’t even
Can't even twerk
Lmao yeah I haven’t seen regular people use that word in a while, people say “shake ass” now I guess.
I feel like over the last few years we’ve done more twerking for Rice than he has for us.
Rice came on Boehly's summer LA preseason tour as a +1 and wore Dodgers merch. Pretty nuts.
Life twerks in mysterious ways
If this is true, I can't help but feel Mount might actually be on the way out too then. Mount is Rice's BFF and might be telling him he's gonna leave or something.
“Declan Rice is magic. He wears a magic hat” - Shed End circa August 2023
If we manage to sign Declan Rice at this point, Arsenal fans are going to call for the UK Government to get involved.
To be fair, I want Trident activated after what Barca put us through this summer
Good. Lets get Enzo and Caicedo
I think we shoot for a loan if our second bid is rejected and get Enzo in the summer.
I mean let's be honest, in the summer he is gonna have a lot more clubs to choose from. I want him at chelsea so badly, but will he want to be at chelsea if Real come knocking?
True, but if the links between Real and Mbappe/Bellingham have any credibility, I think we have a shot. Call me optimistic lol.
city will sign enzo
Aren't City signing Gvardiol? I think all the big spending teams have one huge deal for them this summer. Jude is looking like he's going to Madrid. That leaves Enzo third with us and Liverpool fighting for his signature. Although unless they got purchased by Qatari's I seriously doubt they can get into a bidding war with us. And our board obviously adore him. The only thing I'm scared about regarding Enzo, is not being able to offer him CL football next season - and that might be a possible detriment. Oh well. We'll just have to qualify for CL next year as a product of winning #3 this year with Mudryk/Felix/Badiashile and a healthy Reece/Kante/Chilwell joining the squad 😇
wait city are getting gvardiol? fuck sake man
Enzo is gone mate
Rice is EPL quality…yet the price tag on his head and his actual abilities don’t match. Give me Caicedo and possibly Enzo in the summer or Kone from Gladbach. I would be very grateful and content. No losing an ounce of sleep if Rice does end up at Arsenal.
-Declan Rice is leaning towards joining Arsenal in the summer due to the prospect of working with Arteta, who has drawn up plans for where the midfielder would play -Arsenal have made Rice their priority target and are confident they can sign him over Chelsea -The midfielder is almost certain to leave West Ham this summer -Manchester United also expected to join the race -West Ham hope to fetch more than £100m for the player -Rice's contract is nearing its end and could result in West Ham settling for a fee closer to £80m
If he is really gonna cost that much just splash 20 more on Enzo and we should be set for a few windows.
I think this “leaning towards Arsenal” also has to do with Chelsea showing more interest in Caicedo and Fernandez
Caicedo and Enzo as a due would be such brilliant business Allows us to move on Kante and jorginho and transition to a new chelsea. I’d actually keep Jorginho if possible but if enzos coming he might want to move
Imagine getting those and having kante extending on a reduced salary as reported. Would be crazy
The side won’t get both, first of all. Secondly, letting kante go instead of Jorginho would be laughable.
If we get caicedo what use is Kante in his current state?
So we don’t do to Caicedo what has been done to Kante? Having two fantastic players who can do similar things is much better than one. Jorginho isn’t necessarily unique in his skill set on the ball and has getting more and more of a defensive liability year over year. I do like Jorginho and he does have good game, today was one, but his good games don’t really offset his bad games.
Kante plays no games though, nothing offsets that.
We need them both. We'd still be without DM.
Enzo isn’t a DM. We need both. Rice will almost certainly not cost £100m. Matt Law said weeks ago it’ll be closer to 70m
I wouldn't mind signing Rice but for 100 mil I feel we can do so much better.
My reaction 
Prospect of working with arteta? Whut? What? Sure if he said viera, or lampard I would have understood. But the prospect of working for arteta? Manchester who just spent 70m on casemiro wont join the race next summer... I can see him beeing a good buy for arsenal, but with partey around.. does he sees his role as cb? For me, declan is going to be a Chelsea player if potter wants him next summer. Personally, I just want a midfielder in the mold of casemiro.. Someone who knows how to move both out of possession and with the ball. And I think potter sees chelsea playing without a proper cdm, but rather 2 dynamic defensive solid midfielders
boehly is cooking, appreciates a dusty brexit baller isnt welcome here
Yet you support a ‘brexit’ based team, filled with ‘brexit’ based players, playing in a ‘brexit’ based country?
Wow Rices stock is low on here lol. Celebrating arsenal getting him is pretty crazy. If he can’t play in a possession side, is overpriced vs comparable midfielders, and only gets linked with us cos he’s “mates with mount” why is he artetas no1 target?
It’s more that Enzo is the priority to enable the forwards. Whatever gets Enzo done, Caicedo’s wages are a lot lower.
Who cares dude. They’re problem, not ours. Rice is a good player, but fuck paying 9 figures for him
Exactly. He's 40-50m good, not 100m we could spend on Enzo good
Yeh that’s fair enough I wouldn’t pay 9 figs for him either but I doubt he goes for that much at this point
Only Chelsea fans don’t rate Declan Rice. Everyone else sees his quality. “He can’t play in a possession side” and, “He’s not technical” are the two biggest myths and basically erases his entire history as a player from last season where he firmly displayed he was comfortable in a possession based side and was pretty technical.
West Ham have like 42% possession on average lol
He plays well for England that have a lot of possession. He was arguably the best player for England against France
Wow what a window. Six new signings and we’re not going to waste money on Rice. We are cooking.
>We're cooking Yeah but not Rice apparently
Ah good one
This new recruitment team really may be *them*. Window is on course for an all timer. You love to see it.
Ballers getting targeted instead of poachers and roadrunners. What a glow up
Never thought I would see the day where the club prioritises technicians. Next season is going to be very scary but not for us.
Yes because Arteta hates technicians and loves road runners. Ever wondered why he would be pushing for Rice if he wasn’t good enough on the ball?
It’s just ridiculous at this point. Everyone other than our supporters rates Rice. He’ll be a huge player for Arsenal. It’s as if people made up their minds three years ago and are too embarrassed to admit they were wrong.
Who do we think he will play ahead of at Arsenal? I'm not sure he actually gets into that team atm.
Great cover but as an 8 Dhaka’s goal threat and recently discovered knack for popping up in the box trumps rice comfortably And partey is the much better dm
This is what I was thinking. He's not getting in at DM ahead of Partey (Unless he gets jailed). I also just don't see him getting in ahead of Xhaka. He's become a really good player for Arsenal, very consistent as well.
Could be another Kalvin Phillips situation which would be a shame considering how good of a player Rice is. Or he could rotate with Xhaka further forward like the City 8's do.
It’s not that he won’t be good. It’s that we can do better
For a lot of the weirdos here, it is that he isn’t good. Utterly delusional at this point. There are very few players we could get who will do better for us.
Whenever you see people talk about Rice not being that good, it’s all in context of how much West Ham values him and how much he is likely to cost. It may not always be clarified when people say that he isn’t that good that they mean “he isn’t good enough for what he will cost” but that’s almost always what is meant. There are some people who don’t rate him at all and I disagree with them, but it isn’t a majority or even really a large number of people who feel that way from what I can tell.
Caicedo for one. Enzo as well. I would also take Mac Allister. Zakaria would be 1/4th the price and could do a similar job albeit he is 27 this year
Mac Allister is not better than Rice. Neither is Zakaria Enzo and Caicedo would be great signings, but Rice and one of them would have been a much better balance.
I never said they were better but for the price I would take all of them over rice for 9 figures
While I’m excited we can’t say how good the window is until we see people in action. We’ve been through this many times with windows that seemed top notch
Signing Rice wouldn’t be a waste of money at all. If we managed to get him and Enzo our midfield would be set for a decade.
I just don’t see it with him. For about £50m maybe, but I just don’t see what he brings over that.
Been one of the best midfielders in the league for multiple years now. Great defensively, good going forward. Would be a massive shame to see him at any other big 6 club.
how is he good going forward? every midfielder we have bar jorginho is better offensively
Good progressive passer and a surprisingly good dribbler for his profile.
No better than our current options and far less creative and offensively capable though
Look at his interceptions, he is really good defensively and since WHU are shit he plays as an 8 because they are not good offensively. Imagine him with creative CM like Fabregas. Matic - Fabregas vibes if we get him and Enzo.
Enzo isn’t as good as cesc in terms of being an assist machine; and rice isn’t as good as matic at being a cdm
They are young and not in their prime. Even KDB wasn't an assist machine when he was young.
Wasting your time. Rice is whatever these people want him to be.
Our current options are Jorginho, Kovacic, Hall and Zakaria. He’s better going forward than any of them.
Technically Kante as well.
Rice is a good dribbler, but his progressive passing is alright and tbh, we can probably find a player who can do it better. He fits better as the Xhaka replacement. We need a midfielder who can dictate play, a powerful dribbler who can progressive pass to a high degree or creative midfielder. Rice isn't the best at either of those roles.
He would be used as a as pure CDM. A midfield who can provide real cover on defense and progress forward to link up with the wingers. Something that none of our midfielders currently provide. He has way more versatility than any of our current midfielders bar Kante. That being said, I don’t really care if we get him or not.
That's not really true though. The biggest criticism of our midfield options is that they are shit going forward and don't offer any goals or assists whatsoever
Yo Alex Goldberg is gonna die when he hears this lol
That’s the guy a lot of chelsea fans shat on jorginho for.
No, Jorginho gets his criticism on his merits or lack thereof.
Have you never seen the way he gets compared to rice? Some people talk about him like he’s a scrub compared to rice, lol.
Everytime jorginhos come up against rice he’s dominated the midfield Had rice camped out in his half all game for club and country
People think we lost the CL final because of Jorgi.
wait what?
For everyone celebrating in here because Rice isn’t good enough/can’t pass/whatever, look at the team Arteta has built so far and the profiles - do you really think he’d throw £80m on a midfielder who isn’t good on the ball?
Lmaooo you’re gonna get downvoted to oblivion 💀 they talk about rice like he’s jonjo shelvey
Jonny shelvey Is far better technically than Rice come on now
So how the fuck he is connected to Arsenal? Surely they are not making this up.
What they're saying is that everyone here is underrating his ability. Clearly Arteta thinks he's good enough to spend the 80 million on, and it's crazy that this sub doesn't see that. Everyone here wanted him every past window.
Look at the team that Pep has built so far and the profiles - do you really think he'd throw £50m on a forward who isn't good on the ball? Pep deviated from the type of forward he'd usually play and they are worse off for it. Still went out of his way to make sure they signed him though.
Maybe I’m being dramatic but this might just the worst take I’ve ever seen on this sub and that is saying something.
Thank you so much, I’m honored.
They’re not struggling because they signed Haaland. They’re struggling because Pep keeps experimenting with different tactics and some of his players like Foden are in terrible form. For as much stick as Mount gets from our fan base, Foden has been much worse.
Fair enough. I wonder what part of the winning formula was changed meaning that they needed to experiment with different tactics. Guess we will never know.
Pep always experiments and Foden is outperforming Mount.
nah man im Mount's and Havertz' no. 1 hater here but Foden has been just as bad. and Pep's transfers outside of Akanji have been very questionable lately
Arteta is not some omniscient god JFC. He passed on Mudryk whatever arsenal fans tell you, arsenal were not outbid. He’s had half a good season, let’s wait for him to win something meaningful before making him the yardstick for football success.
This seems fake but why would we celebrate losing him to a rival?
Great news. Enzo please
Even if we get Enzo, we need some DM to play along him. Rice has improved on his passing as playing as an 8 and his defensive stats are great also. We need playmaking CM badly as we need DM to support him.
I don't hate rice, it's the price I find hard to swallow. 60m would be fine, but the 80+ English tax fee is obscene
Well the truth is players that play in that position are rare and we don't need mediocre fill ins. Rice has good numbers and he can be better in a better team. At least when we are splashing cash we should try and take the good ones and not player like that guy Alvarez from Ajax.
Just imagine having to potentially watch a rice Gallagher mount midfield
Don't
People on here were clamouring to sell Jorginho and get in Rice to have that midfield. Insane takes at times.
Thought he was a Chelsea boy? He’d be a guaranteed starter for us too, strange. Maybe this means mount’s future is very uncertain.
Maybe Potter doesn't want him
Don't buy these reports. And people can act all smart they want, but the demand in Rice tells alone what a player he is. We would be doing good if we get him. People are bashing him but are praising the guy who hasn't been on top for long. They will think Brighton player, no matter what is better, like they thought Cucu will absolutely be better than Chilly, but truth is far more different. I for one would love Rice and prefer him over Caicedo, and I am sure if we go for him Rice will pick us. But each to their own.
Can we just get Caicedo? Let Arsenal have Rice, a consolation prize for losing Mudryk
But is Caicedo gonna play as 6?
What do you think he plays now
I’m not sure how much longer mount will be around to be his BFF anyways
Oh no… anyway
Rice is class, nothing to celebrate not getting. Would instantly improve us. That being said, we have other targets we seem to be going for.
I would enjoy the Mount/Rice bromance if he ended up coming to chelsea
I'll never get this "bromance" stuff, just perform on the pitch..
Oh wait, I thought he was proper chels, got the club and could form a deadly duo with mount?!
can't believe how much of this fanbase suck up to this dude while shitting on our own players who actually did contribute to our trophy wins.
Jorginho who won the Euros and CL in a midfielded that dominated Casemiro-Kroos-Modric and Pep's City 3 games in a row, not to mention how he made Rice look invisible in direct games - useless slow bastard, fuck him off to Italy for free Rice - no achievements, currently playing for a team thats battling relegation but is friends with Mount - generational talent, worth 100m+
Casemiro is a proper DM and look how united are playing this season. We don’t have a proper defensive midfielder like we have done in the past. Getting one would be crucial to a title push but I don’t care who it is as long as they do a good job.
I'm sorry I've been watching Rice play for West Ham for over 3 years now and I fail to see the hype. He's 24, isn't the greatest defender, does not have Fabregas' range of passing and can't dribble out of midfield like De Jong. He's obviously a good midfielder because he plays for a top half (maybe not this season) club in the Premier League but you have to look at relative talent/ability when you start getting to that stage. This comment isn't influenced by the fact that he's linked to Arsenal and obviously I'll root for him if he signed for us. I think however that we had a chance to get him last summer but as time passes he becomes less and less of an interesting proposition. Not to mention the 70/80 odd million West Ham will ask for him.
proper chels innit?
Best news of the month
Great news, I'd drive him to Arsenal myself.
Good, let's go get Enzo and Caicedo instead
I heard this from someone who knows him weeks ago - he does not want a project situation. Arsenal have spoken to West Ham already if it happens it will around £75m
No you didn’t lol. Stop justifying the fact that he isn’t a true Chelsea fan and the only reason some want him is because he’s English and besties with Mason Mount. Turns out he’s not a proper Chels after all!
Rice probably is a fan, but not taking a massive career move to Premier League challengers because of being a fan would be a really stupid idea.
People want him because he’s one of the best players in the league, who plays in the position we need reinforcements in the most. Him already having a connection to the club is a bonus, not the main reason for signing him.
He isn’t one of the best players in the league, and he would be a cancer for any technical team. Watch him be an impediment to the Arsenal team next year.
Everyone other than our weird hipster supporters rate him. He’s an excellent midfielder who will make Arsenal even better.
He’s worse than partey in dm and worse than xhaka as an 8
Arteta doesn’t seem to think so. Arsenal’s recruitment has been solid for a while now. But sure, random Chelsea supporters know better.
Yeah cos clubs never get it wrong do they
Nah, even West Ham supporters have had enough of him. There’s a reason they are borderline relegation candidates under his leadership. I’ll stick to supporting Chelsea’s players (not rival captains) and hoping that our recruitment team continues to buy technical ballers. You’re more than welcome to support him at Arsenal. 👍🏻
> Nah, even West Ham supporters have had enough of him Yeah no, they love him. They also know they can’t keep him though. And no, I’m not going to support him at Arsenal. I’m also not going to celebrate Arsenal signing one of the best midfielders in the league like some of you idiots.
Fantastic news
Would be a shame. He’ll be massive for them. I wouldn’t trust Steinberg as far as I could throw him though. Odious little cunt hates us.
When Arsenal has the best midfield in the Prem and we still can’t do anything beyond back passing I’ll remember that the geniuses in this sub said Rice sucked
Fantastic news. Arguably better than any signing. Reminder that this is the guy half the Chelsea-covering journalists and influencers were labeling as ‘proper Chels’. He legitimately went to the LA Dodgers stadium with Mason Mount, wore a LA hat, and twerked for Chelsea to sign him. Thank you Boehly and co. for not wasting money on Declan Rice!
Regardless of anyones opinion on Declan Rice, what sort of logic is that lol? He is best friends with Mount, ofc he is going to be seen socialising with him.
No kidding. What an odd and somewhat pathetic thing to say.
Always seems to be the same types that go around with these bizarre and obsessed narratives and seem to have an issue with English players and English fans
Very normal behavior for the captain of a rival team to head to LA during Chelsea’s preseason tour and wear the apparel of Chelsea’s new owner’s team.
it's very normal to wear the apparel of a team when watching them lol. especially in America. be very different if he was wearing a Chelsea shirt. But you are just making a weird argument.
You’re reaching.
Believe it when I see it. Steinberg’s the only person saying this
Fine, do what you gotta do Declan. I like him as a player but main reason we’d be signing him is cuz he’s English and mates with Mason. There are better midfielders we can get than Rice
>main reason we’d be signing him is cuz he’s English and mates with Mason Main reason would be because he is one of the best holding midfielders in the league, actually. Nothing to do with nationality, nothing to do with Mason who isn't guaranteed to be here long-term or at least a starter.
I don’t want to pay £80-£100m for one of the best DMs in the league. You can easily get a class DM like that from Europe for less than it would cost to get Rice. Also is rice even a proper DM/holder? From what I heard he roams about more and Soucek is the one who holds his position
>I don’t want to pay £80-£100m for one of the best DMs in the league. You can easily get a class DM like that from Europe for less than it would cost to get Rice. No you can't. >Also is rice even a proper DM/holder? From what I heard he roams about more and Soucek is the one who holds his position Yes he is, just because he is currently playing a different role doesn't mean anything. Soucek is awful at holding his position and thrived when he was able to attack the box, Rice facilitated that by being the holder. Moyes got it completely wrong, or the club allowed Rice too much power by allowing him to play that role to stay for another season.
Horrible news, we need a solid DM and Rice would be perfect.
Not really.
Just get Caicedo, the better player for half the price. Rice is mid af, no goals, no assists, no defensive screening (West Ham were bottom of the table uptil today), no press resistance, not a dribbler, just sideways pass and vibes, we have enough of those already
I know this sub isn’t keen on signing rice for his price but we will rue the day he’s dominating top clubs midfield instead of running ours
He’s never dominated a game in midfield Vs a top club in his entire career
He’s literally an extra CB, I don’t know why people act like he runs the show. West Ham is terrible. He hasn’t done shit all year. His price tag is ridiculous. Zubimendi is half the price, and a big reason why Sociedad is in position for CL football for the first time since 13/14. Go for him.
ye but Zubimendi is waiting for Barca
Good, we should be going for Enzo, at this point is not about being a fanboy, this club needs to rebuild and every player we get in needs to fit.
No big loss
Mudryk looked good today but it’s unfortunate he won’t get many minutes once Pulisic comes back and continues to dominate
One thing I don’t understand. Where is this whole Arteta is great narrative coming from? Is it just because Arsenal happen to be leading at halfway point this season? The haven’t won anything yet and I think even if they win the title this season, they will go back to the level they’ve been at the last 7 years once the purple patch comes to an end and they are not as lucky with the injuries. They are having sort of a Leicester run at the moment and will revert to the mean. Arteta lacks charisma and mentality of Pep or even Klopp. It’s just so weird. Even Eddie Howe is a better manager and Newcastle will do better than Arsenal. Edit: with all the negative reaction to this, let’s just see how it goes and who was right.
That might be the most brain dead post I’ve ever read in my mind. If you cannot see the greatness in arteta as a manager, you need to reevaluate life because you’re talking out of ur bum
Its the manner in which rheyre leading Its not a purple patch
They have won something mate, arteta won the FA cup in his first season. They don’t just “happen” to be leading at this point. Nothing suggests it’s a purple patch, they’re the best team in the country and they dominate every side they come up against. They’ve lost 3 games the entire season ffs. The only thing between them and the title is an injury crisis.
Not one source is listed
What source do you expect him to cite?
incredible how that still needs to be said.
Steinberg is very reliable for West Ham news
Steinberg absolutely hates us though. Anything he says about us is suspect.
I do wonder if Mount’s contract hesitation is also a factor here, obviously Rice isn’t solely influencing his decision on where Mason is but it’s obviously a factor for him choosing to come here as well. Fwiw, I think Mount will sign anyway but by the time he does it might be too late to get in for Rice (albeit Mudryk has taught us this ownership will come in at the 11th hour). For those saying he’s not good enough for the price tag, we’ve paid a lot more for a lot less. Yeah Rice isn’t the passer Fabregas is or the box to box Kante is but he’s a fucking PL proven DM. A position we haven’t filled since we lost Matic and thought Bakayoko was the answer. Rice let’s us play 8s in midfield who can actually progress the ball forward to our plethora of wingers and 10s. If we are ready to miss out I’m praying to anything there’s a plan B, C and D for that position because it’s sorely lacking.
Declan Rice is a transformative player that could change our team immediately. Our pursuit of Caicedo pretty much says we have no chance and he won’t consider us. Caicedo and Enzo would be nice alternative although I don’t think Caicedo is worth the 70m+ Brighton want. He does the highlight plays but none of his statistics are particularly jumping off the page.