This seems to be gaining some traction. Out of all the CBs linked to us recently Rice seems to be the most concrete link so far. The important thing to take away from this is that he's the commanding type CB with leadership qualities we are looking for. 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/frank-lampard-wants-declan-rice-in-defence-9zksh96dh?utm_medium=Social

Rather have Rice than any of the other CB's we have been linked with. 

Still not sure how I feel about him as CB, haven't watched him play all that much.

Excellent footballer and he'd be a smart buy. Boyhood Chelsea-fan, from the academy and only 21.

Okay, he's young, English, completely overrated.

He's not even CB.

And completely banal.

Please, not this, we made 2 such good purchases outside the English market.

No Chilwell or Declan Rice ... please.

Edited July 6, 20206 yr by Mr. President
errors in the text

From what I've seen he can also play DM and he's only 21 years old. Could be a good signing!

1 hour ago, Gol15 said:

From what I've seen he can also play DM and he's only 21 years old. Could be a good signing!

Unsurprising as he is a bloody midfielder!  

How many games has he played at CB other than the one or two recently because of injuries to the West Ham defence?

3 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Unsurprising as he is a bloody midfielder!  

How many games has he played at CB other than the one or two recently because of injuries to the West Ham defence?

My evil twin that doesn't know sh*t about footy wrote this comment, sadly he has been writing a lot it seems so have mercy

Is this a rumour or just something someone made up after that loss against WHU? What is the difference you ask? I don't know. Anyway none of the reliable reporters have not said anything about Rice and Chelsea.

 

 

 

 

Hold on

So there is something there...

It would be madness to loan out Tomori. Especially to replace him with a midfielder who USED to play at CB. 

11 hours ago, Munkworth said:

Unsurprising as he is a bloody midfielder!  

How many games has he played at CB other than the one or two recently because of injuries to the West Ham defence?

He was a CB coming through our Academy, though later he played centre mid too. 

13 minutes ago, dkw said:

He was a CB coming through our Academy, though later he played centre mid too. 

Wasn't good enough then, and isn't good enough now.  English and had a good-ish few minutes against us last week aren't enough, IMHO

49 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

Wasn't good enough then, and isn't good enough now.  English and had a good-ish few minutes against us last week aren't enough, IMHO

There's a host of players who academies make mistakes on. 

He could well be good enough. I'm interested to see what happens here, if we sign him to be a CB it could either be a massive failure or a masterstroke. Clearly someone in Chelsea has been doing their scouting and thinks the latter. 

9 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

There's a host of players who academies make mistakes on. 

He could well be good enough. I'm interested to see what happens here, if we sign him to be a CB it could either be a massive failure or a masterstroke. Clearly someone in Chelsea has been doing their scouting and thinks the latter. 

Even if he were to fail at CB he'd still be very useful as a CDM. He's one of the best CDMs in the league currently.

I'd rather have him at CDM than Kante currently. Kante forgets what position he's playing and bombs up field too often, at least Rice will hold his position and provide protection to the defence. 

Looks like Lampard prefers to bring in versatile players who can cover a few different positions on the pitch, allowing him to be more flexible in his team selection.

Luckily we have been able to get a couple of top class players in the form of Ziyech & Werner however the downfall of that approach at times could be that you end up with players who are Jack of all trades and masters of none.

11 minutes ago, Imran_CFC said:

Looks like Lampard prefers to bring in versatile players who can cover a few different positions on the pitch, allowing him to be more flexible in his team selection.

Luckily we have been able to get a couple of top class players in the form of Ziyech & Werner however the downfall of that approach at times could be that you end up with players who are Jack of all trades and masters of none.

Just because players can play in different positions, doesn't mean they're not masters in specific ones.

For example, Ziyech can play across a few different attacking positions, but he is world class as a RW

57 minutes ago, driller97 said:

Just because players can play in different positions, doesn't mean they're not masters in specific ones.

For example, Ziyech can play across a few different attacking positions, but he is world class as a RW

Thats what I stated that we have got a couple of top class signings in Ziyech & Werner who are luckily for us versatile and quality, however long term we should purchase players based upon quality and not purely versatility.

Edited July 7, 20206 yr by Imran_CFC

Thats what I stated that we have got a couple of top class signings in Ziyech & Werner who are luckily for us versatile and quality, however long term we should purchase players based upon quality and not purely versatility.

Why not keep doing both?

I'm not completely sold on him tbh but I see him joining us in the summer if we're going for a CB. Other CB options seem unrealistic and in the case of Skriniar, impossible. Personally I'd prefer that Leicester lad Soyuncu but we haven't been linked him with him. 

Edited July 7, 20206 yr by Marrone

If we are interested then you presume there is something the scouting department sees. But right now we are lacking experience and leadership. To sign someone who doesn't even play in this position and doesn't have experience seems a little off piste... leadership is another question but he is only young.

4 minutes ago, Marrone said:

I'm not completely sold on him tbh but I see him joining us in the summer if we're going for a CB. Other CB options seem unrealistic and in the case of Skriniar, impossible. Personally I'd prefer that Leicester lad Soyuncu but we haven't been linked him with him. 

In all fairness, 2nd half of the season Soyuncu has actually been quite poor

51 minutes ago, driller97 said:

In all fairness, 2nd half of the season Soyuncu has actually been quite poor

Yh I'm hoping that's to more due to Leicester as a whole being poor. Certainly a slight worry though. 

2 minutes ago, Marrone said:

Yh I'm hoping that's to more due to Leicester as a whole being poor. Certainly a slight worry though. 

For sure, just wouldn't want to make a big mistake signing him based of the performances of half a season though... He doesn't exactly look like hes clearly much better than the options we have right now, and thats my main concern.

If we're going to sign a CB, it pretty much has to be someone who is a much better option than what we have now