We have absolutely zero chance of signing him; akin to the Haaland rumours that were all over this board. Forget about it and move on. If I were to bet he will be the BIG signing United will make in the summer, he's exactly what they need to turn their corner and start challenging for titles again.

I’ve legit never seen a player more overrated by a fan base than Declan Rice by Chelsea fans, blows my mind.

Ex-Chelsea player, Masons good friend, a top bloke and one of the best players in the Prem. Your mind is pretty easily blown.

I feel we would have to ship one of our elite midfielders to somewhere else if we bought Rice. 

2 hours ago, evissy said:

Ex-Chelsea player, Masons good friend, a top bloke and one of the best players in the Prem. Your mind is pretty easily blown.

I feel we would have to ship one of our elite midfielders to somewhere else if we bought Rice. 

Yes possibly Barkley would have to be sacrificed. 

19 hours ago, thebluekid said:

We have absolutely zero chance of signing him; akin to the Haaland rumours that were all over this board. Forget about it and move on. If I were to bet he will be the BIG signing United will make in the summer, he's exactly what they need to turn their corner and start challenging for titles again.

If they sign him it will be for a similar price of Pogba that they re-signed from Juventus years back. That didn't exactly produce big titles for them!

19 hours ago, thebluekid said:

We have absolutely zero chance of signing him; akin to the Haaland rumours that were all over this board. Forget about it and move on. If I were to bet he will be the BIG signing United will make in the summer, he's exactly what they need to turn their corner and start challenging for titles again.

Honestly think we will sign him in the summer.

We are going to go for a midfielder and Rice fits the bill. He'll be expensive but worth it in my opinion.

United may not even make the Champions League. They'll have no chance of signing him if they miss out on that.

 

21 hours ago, timetowaste said:

I’ve legit never seen a player more overrated by a fan base than Declan Rice by Chelsea fans, blows my mind.

I think he's a decent player, but I don't see this brilliant player that would make all of the difference that others see. I also don't see a Chelsea team where both Jorginho and Rice fit, it would be one or the other. I would also imagine that bringing in a player like Rice would drastically change how we play going forward. 

33 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I think he's a decent player, but I don't see this brilliant player that would make all of the difference that others see. I also don't see a Chelsea team where both Jorginho and Rice fit, it would be one or the other. I would also imagine that bringing in a player like Rice would drastically change how we play going forward. 

Not to mention of all the positions that we have an issue with, attackers can’t score and 3 defenders out of contract, a CM should be the last place we’re looking to spend £80m+ when we have Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic and Gallagher returning.

37 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I think he's a decent player, but I don't see this brilliant player that would make all of the difference that others see. I also don't see a Chelsea team where both Jorginho and Rice fit, it would be one or the other. I would also imagine that bringing in a player like Rice would drastically change how we play going forward. 

This is how I feel as well. He would compete basically with Jorginho. In his eyes this move would be a massive risk. 

I think he will go to United. He would absolutely walk in that side. Their squad is brilliant apart from midfield.

9 hours ago, Gol15 said:

If they sign him it will be for a similar price of Pogba that they re-signed from Juventus years back. That didn't exactly produce big titles for them!

I think West ham will make Rice wait for 2 more seasons before they sell him. 

In 2 seasons will Jorgi have returned to Italy? Supposedly that is what he wants, and Italy return at some point.

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

I think West ham will make Rice wait for 2 more seasons before they sell him. 

In 2 seasons will Jorgi have returned to Italy? Supposedly that is what he wants, and Italy return at some point.

I think West Ham doesn't want his contract to run out as they would miss out on some serious income so they would probably prefer to sell sooner if that's a big risk. Jorginho's contract will expire in 2023, at the same time as Kante's contract and right now it doesn't look like they will extend their contracts so either way we will need to make Gilmour into a decent DM and buy a new player.

I'm far from convinced that Gilmour is a long term chelsea starter. Has some of what's needed but maybe not all of it.

On 24/01/2022 at 12:55, Scott Harris said:

I think he's a decent player, but I don't see this brilliant player that would make all of the difference that others see. I also don't see a Chelsea team where both Jorginho and Rice fit, it would be one or the other. I would also imagine that bringing in a player like Rice would drastically change how we play going forward. 

Different players for different tactics. In my opinion, Rice would be better suited to a midfield of 3 (Kante/Kova, Rice, Gallagher, for example), plus, as we know, Jorginho is not suited for all games so Rice would give us the chance to switch tactics when required (when the opponent sits back and we need to cover counters). And, Kova, Kante and Jorginho can't be played every single match, they need rotation, they are not getting younger or less prone to injury. I think that he would be a very good option if we want to switch to a back 4.

On 24/01/2022 at 11:55, Scott Harris said:

I think he's a decent player, but I don't see this brilliant player that would make all of the difference that others see. I also don't see a Chelsea team where both Jorginho and Rice fit, it would be one or the other. I would also imagine that bringing in a player like Rice would drastically change how we play going forward. 

Also he's playing under a manager who's underdog system is perfect for defensive minded players. His Everton system duped City and Madrid into thinking Joleon Lescott and Thomas Gravesen respectively were good enough for them. Zouma looks ace at West Ham after being all at sea playing under Tuchel, Tim Howard had a good career at Everton under Moyes after looking out of his depth at United to cite two further examples.

Different ball game here as he will be expected to dominate midfield battles even against top opposition and act as a playmaker from deep. I joked about it earlier in this thread but his partner at the Euro's actually has a better resume at those particular tactics as he's often played as DLP in a system as complex as Bielsa's and I'm not in any particular rush to see him in our colours either.

I hope I'm wrong (as I'm sure he will sign, there's too much noise and we're a sucker for a 'story') but I can't help but worry we're in for another £100m ish stylistic mismatch and nothing I've seen of him have yet eased my fears.

Edited January 27, 20224 yr by Argo

On 24/01/2022 at 08:55, ozboy said:

Yes possibly Barkley would have to be sacrificed. 

I don't think he would be missed

On 23/01/2022 at 15:15, thebluekid said:

We have absolutely zero chance of signing him; akin to the Haaland rumours that were all over this board. Forget about it and move on. If I were to bet he will be the BIG signing United will make in the summer, he's exactly what they need to turn their corner and start challenging for titles again.

Wasn't that the case with Ronaldo, Pogba, Maguire, Varane, Bruno and Sancho? 😁

7 hours ago, Argo said:

Also he's playing under a manager who's underdog system is perfect for defensive minded players. His Everton system duped City and Madrid into thinking Joleon Lescott and Thomas Gravesen respectively were good enough for them. Zouma looks ace at West Ham after being all at sea playing under Tuchel, Tim Howard had a good career at Everton under Moyes after looking out of his depth at United to cite two further examples.

Different ball game here as he will be expected to dominate midfield battles even against top opposition and act as a playmaker from deep. I joked about it earlier in this thread but his partner at the Euro's actually has a better resume at those particular tactics as he's often played as DLP in a system as complex as Bielsa's and I'm not in any particular rush to see him in our colours either.

I hope I'm wrong (as I'm sure he will sign, there's too much noise and we're a sucker for a 'story') but I can't help but worry we're in for another £100m ish stylistic mismatch and nothing I've seen of him have yet eased my fears.

He wouldn’t be the DLP he’d be the defensive midfielder. He could play with Kova and Kante, or with Gilmour and Gallagher, for example, in a midfield 3. Very much like City play Rodri.

2 hours ago, RMH said:

He wouldn’t be the DLP he’d be the defensive midfielder. He could play with Kova and Kante, or with Gilmour and Gallagher, for example, in a midfield 3. Very much like City play Rodri.

You sound like you know what you're talking about, a bit over my old head though ha

13 hours ago, wizardous said:

Wasn't that the case with Ronaldo, Pogba, Maguire, Varane, Bruno and Sancho? 😁

Pogba and Sancho where supposed to be our saviours before signing for Man U.  You can throw Lukaku in there too.

14 hours ago, RMH said:

He wouldn’t be the DLP he’d be the defensive midfielder. He could play with Kova and Kante, or with Gilmour and Gallagher, for example, in a midfield 3. Very much like City play Rodri.

Bang on, hes not a deep midfielder sitting in front of a defence at all so not sure why people think he is. He is a box to box for West Ham, so would fit perfectly into our system. We would currently be a much better team if we had signed him in the summer.

2 hours ago, DarkMata said:

Pogba and Sancho where supposed to be our saviours before signing for Man U.  You can throw Lukaku in there too.

Lukaku should've been our savior from...what exactly? Saving us from being European champions again?

15 hours ago, RMH said:

He wouldn’t be the DLP he’d be the defensive midfielder. He could play with Kova and Kante, or with Gilmour and Gallagher, for example, in a midfield 3. Very much like City play Rodri.

If he's playing with any of those other than Gilmour he'll be expected to the the chief deep playmaker. Not saying he has to play Cesc esque balls every ten minutes but helping the first phase build up (playing out of the back) and keeping things ticking over will be primary tasks for him in a way it simply isn't in a David Moyes team.

1 hour ago, dkw said:

Bang on, hes not a deep midfielder sitting in front of a defence at all so not sure why people think he is. He is a box to box for West Ham, so would fit perfectly into our system. We would currently be a much better team if we had signed him in the summer.

If we're signing him for box to box (assuming we stick to the 343) it's makes even less sense as he'll be primarily competing with Kante, Kova and possibly even Gallagher. 

I know we have constantly different opinions on how good Rice is/will be but wouldn't it be better to invest that type of money on wingbacks (where we badly need one) or forwards (if none of our current one's don't have a breakthrough moment until the end of the season)?

Good player, but we've got Gallagher coming back next season, to take a spot. Don't see that we really need him.

39 minutes ago, Argo said:

If he's playing with any of those other than Gilmour he'll be expected to the the chief deep playmaker. Not saying he has to play Cesc esque balls every ten minutes but helping the first phase build up (playing out of the back) and keeping things ticking over will be primary tasks for him in a way it simply isn't in a David Moyes team.

Next season we will have Jorginho + Gilmour to play the sittting DM role anyway but we do need defenders, we could get Sule for free and sign Kounde and by the looks of it maybe Tuchel searches for an inside-forward/winger type to score more goals maybe?

Rice simply isn't a creative midfielder and our defense has been good since Tuchel arrived so it would be better to give the trust to Gilmour and let him grow.