Andy Dunn rages at ‘outlandish’ West Ham United transfer saga
Andy Dunn has revealed his astonishment at the £100million fee which West Ham United and Arsenal are set to come to an agreement over for the services of Declan Rice.
Fabrizio Romano reported on June 28 that the Hammers have communicated their willingness to accept the offer of £100million plus £5million in add-ons for the England international, but the two clubs remain in talks over the structure of the deal.
Personal terms for Rice were agreed upon weeks ago, and the final green light on payment terms is expected soon after Premier League champions Manchester City withdrew from the bidding war.
Writing in his column for the Daily Mirror [30 June, page 61], Dunn wrote: “The sum of £100million for a 24-year-old midfielder who has won one trophy – a third-tier European pot – and has scored 15 goals in 245 appearances for a club that, during Declan Rice’s time there, has finished 11th, 13th, 10th, 16th, sixth, seventh, and 14th, is an outlandish fee.
“In other words, people – if they have it – are willing to spend daft money in many walks of life. And football is just one of them.”
Fair price
Although £100million certainly isn’t a cheap fee, this is the direction that the transfer market has been heading in over the past few years, and West Ham can’t be criticised for slapping the nine-figure price tag on Rice’s shoulders.
Aston Villa set the way for how much a homegrown player of Rice or Jack Grealish’s ilk should cost in the modern-day football stratosphere when they sold the attacker to Manchester City for £100million two summers ago, and the Hammers are only following suit based on this valuation.
Yes, Rice hasn’t scored an abundance of goals, as Dunn mentions, but there are so many strings to his game that have remained unmentioned.
First of all, the 24-year-old actually came through the ranks as a centre-back, which is never going to aid his goal output, before holding up the West Ham United midfield single-handedly for the last three years without much aid.
The Hammers might not realise what they are going to miss until Rice is strutting his stuff at the Emirates Stadium next season and helping Arsenal to challenge in what should be an intriguing Premier League title race.
In other West Ham news, £25.7m offer on cards as English starlet wanted at the London Stadium.