West Ham United: Gary Neville and Jamie Redknapp share verdict on £100m Declan Rice valuation live on Sky Sports
Gary Neville has questioned if anyone will pay West Ham United’s £100m valuation for Declan Rice because he isn’t a complete player yet.
The Hammers skipper is expected to leave the club this summer with Chelsea and Arsenal considered the favourites for his signature, although neither team is willing to pay his £100m asking price.
But Neville, speaking live on Sky Sports before the win over Southampton, has questioned if anyone will pay that amount for him because he isn’t the best at what he does, despite being an “excellent” player for England and West Ham.
“There’s no doubt for West Ham he’s their best player,” he said (2 April). “Influential, been brilliant for England.
“I think the only sort of criticism comes in reflection and the reality of the fact that the supposed price tag being asked for him is around £100m.
“When you get a £100m player, you expect that they are going to be the complete player. So from that point of view, is Declan as good as say Rodri or Casemiro at receiving the ball from the back four?
“Is he as good as say Bruno Fernandes going forward or a player of that ilk? No, he fits a little bit in between both of them.
“There’s no doubt he’s an excellent player, a great character, someone who to be fair is important to his club. I think the challenge is who is going to pay £100m for him and is he that type of value, where probably then, it’s not criticism it’s more an observation around his ability relating to that price.”
Jamie Redknapp was also present for the conversation and defended the comparison with Rodri and Casemiro, but does feel that Rice has already outgrown West Ham.
“He’s in a relegation fight,” Redknapp added.
“It’s a lot. When you talk about Rodri and Casemiro, they’re the players he gets compared to but they’re playing week in, week out with the ball most of the time.
“He’s really struggling with this West Ham side. It’s been tough for him. He’s certainly under a lot of pressure. I think to a certain extent he’s outgrown the team as well.”
Not our problem
West Ham have had to deal with the speculation and intense media coverage surrounding Rice and his future for several years, and there has never been a second thought about it.
But now that he’s almost certain to leave the club, suddenly everyone feels sorry for him and we’re supposed to let him leave on the cheap for the sake of his career.
When Jack Grealish ended up at Manchester City for £100m two summers ago everyone knew he wasn’t worth that amount to anyone but Aston Villa, but that was enough for them to pay it.
Rice is arguably even more important to West Ham than Grealish was to Villa, but his contract situation isn’t as secure and so the fee is about right.
When Rice eventually leaves and goes to a top club, he will shine and make everyone forget the price that was paid because his performances will do the talking for him, and West Ham deserve to cash out for as much as possible for it.