I think we should seriously consider Rice as a Bellingham alternative (or we can try to buy both if Henry accidentally leaves his wallet at Kirkby). For a long time he seemed to be destined for Chelsea or United, however it seems the Blues under Potter are more interested in Caicedo (who we should also consider!) and while United remain interested I have a feeling that in the end they will probably lean towards signing more glamorous Dutch or other European players rather than take a chance on another slab-headed English bloke from a midtable team. Rice will be expensive, but perhaps a touch less so compared to year ago, the hype has died down a little bit, but the quality is still there.
The defining feature of Declan Rice for me is his willingness and ability to drive forward with the ball - a rare feature for a holding midfielder. You could say he’s interpreting the DM position quite differently to Fabinho. I think he’s technically very solid, sees his teammates, is willing to sacrifice his body in defence and seems like a decent lad. Not injury-prone so far in his career and plays a lot of minutes. Let’s hope the usual “curse” of us signing a player who had a good game against us will strike again.
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