Mike McGrath: Declan Rice is like Cesc Fabregas
West Ham midfielder Declan Rice reminds Mike McGrath of former Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
The Telegraph journalist joined Fabrizio Romano’s Here We Go show on Twitch and discussed the big transfers of the summer.
It was his publication that broke the story of Rice rejecting two contract extensions at West Ham.
When asked about Rice’s future by Romano, McGrath stated, “Rice is an absolutely fantastic player.
“I had the privilege of seeing Cesc Fabregas live and Rice reminds me of him, especially in the way he controls the midfield.
“It’s going to take something amazing to get out of West Ham. They desperately want him to stay.
“There are clubs interested but it is going to be very difficult.”
Some comparison
Fabregas, who plied his trade at Barcelona, also graced the shores of Great Britain with stints for our local rivals Arsenal and Chelsea.
We were not particularly fans of him when he was in the Premier League, but now once he’s no longer here, we can sit and admire the elegance he brought to the game whenever he stepped on the field of play.
The manner in which he distributed possession is similar to how Rice does it. He also anchors the midfield perfectly and knows when to up and when to slow down the tempo in matches.
Much like Fabregas, Rice has a very good footballing brain which helps him in applying his skills on the field of play. Within years he’s gone from making his senior debut against Burnley to playing in the Euro 2020 final for the Three Lions.
We expect Rice to stay on this summer as the clubs keen on him will have to pay a mouth-watering fee that would probably shatter the Premier League transfer record and make him the most expensive English player of all time.
While that’s already how we regard him, we wouldn’t want him to leave the London Stadium anytime soon.
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