Rice and Osimhen would be the ideal DM and striker. If we hadn’t blown a big chunk of our budget on the likes of Koulibaly, Sterling and Cucurella, it might make sense. Sadly I can see us going for cheaper options now. Hence the links to the likes of Lavia and Sadio Mane. 

29 minutes ago, Dr. Socrates said:

Rice and Osimhen would be the ideal DM and striker. If we hadn’t blown a big chunk of our budget on the likes of Koulibaly, Sterling and Cucurella, it might make sense. Sadly I can see us going for cheaper options now. Hence the links to the likes of Lavia and Sadio Mane. 

I doubt it.

West Ham this season has 41% possession in general which is the 3rd worst so only 2 teams have had less possession than West Ham, a player like that, that spent the majority of his career hiding from the ball and acting like an extra defender won't help us scoring more goals at all.

You can argue that he's defensively good, but again that's cause he's always playing defense, they literally don't even play the modern game. Look at his partner Soucek, he is also defensively good; Rice made 3 tackles more than Soucek this season and 12 more interceptions than Soucek. Both are in the top 10 when it comes to tackles and interceptions but it means little when their whole team is playing anti-football, obviously whoever is in front of their backline is going to get a lot of defensive stats, West Ham still conceded 50 goals and lost 18 matches despite them building their whole team around those two.

That's not having stability and it's clearly not a winning formula.

When Leicester won the league and we signed Kante we signed a winning formula, Rice isn't that guy, he's not ideal at all and certainly not for such a huge price. You can find a more technical player than him that can actually play football for half of his price, I'm sure of it. 

Edit. 

Edited May 8, 20233 yr by Sconnie Blue

1 hour ago, Gol15 said:

Let's see if a top team signs him this summer shall we? If he really is a good player, at 24 that should happen.

Not necessarily, isn't he under contract?

The Athletic mentions a £75 million price tag for Rice. 

 

5 hours ago, Gol15 said:

Let's see if a top team signs him this summer shall we? If he really is a good player, at 24 that should happen.

Drogba was still at Marseille at 26. Kane is still at Tottenham. Thiago Silva was still playing in Brazil at 25. Nemanja Matic only rejoined us at 25. Oh and not sure if Napoli falls into your definition of a top team, but if not, your beloved Jorginho only joined us at 26. Guess they were never any good.

Edited May 8, 20233 yr by True Blue23

Always liked Rice, but unless we have another 600M to play with in the summer, really nice to spend it wisely. I just don't see Rice as the top priority considering problems at the other end of the field. A midfield of Enzo, Kante, Rice be really tidy on paper, but wouldn't get you 10 goals a season.

7 minutes ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Always liked Rice, but unless we have another 600M to play with in the summer, really nice to spend it wisely. I just don't see Rice as the top priority considering problems at the other end of the field. A midfield of Enzo, Kante, Rice be really tidy on paper, but wouldn't get you 10 goals a season.

Yup. I'm tired of us buying midfielders and letting the youngsters go... seems like a complete waste of money unless you buy someone exceptional, like Enzo or Kante etc.

Let's focus on getting 1) a striker who can put ball in net and 2) a goalie who can keep ball out of net.

And after that, if we haven't got a replacement for Silva lined up already 3) a center back to marshal the defence.

On 07/05/2023 at 10:17, Gol15 said:

24 and still at West Ham shows it all, useless for any modern manager that actually wants to play football and not to have some outdated passive player that wants to hide from the ball and just act as an extra defender. Sorry to prove you wrong for the 99th time.

Kane is the best number 9 on the planet and is still at Tottenham, what point are you trying to make with that one? Literally every big club on the planet is linked with him currently. Off the back of another MOTM performance against Utd, you look more daft as each game passes. You can just admit you're wrong and we can move on appreciate Rice together.

 

On 07/05/2023 at 16:41, Sexyfootball said:

Which site are you looking at for all these ratings ?

They were off Fotmob

12 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Always liked Rice, but unless we have another 600M to play with in the summer, really nice to spend it wisely. I just don't see Rice as the top priority considering problems at the other end of the field. A midfield of Enzo, Kante, Rice be really tidy on paper, but wouldn't get you 10 goals a season.

You don’t need that midfield to rack up goals, what it does is it frees up your fullbacks and allows your forward line to function effectively. A peak Liverpool & Madrid midfield from 2 seasons ago wasn’t there to be scoring goals. Hypothetically in a season or 2 you then buy a goal scoring technical midfielder to replace Kante. 

17 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

The Athletic mentions a £75 million price tag for Rice. 

 

Sky Sports claiming he’ll cost £120m or £100m plus a player. Can only see United spending that atm. 

12 hours ago, Bebe1980 said:

Yup. I'm tired of us buying midfielders and letting the youngsters go... seems like a complete waste of money unless you buy someone exceptional, like Enzo or Kante etc.

Let's focus on getting 1) a striker who can put ball in net and 2) a goalie who can keep ball out of net.

And after that, if we haven't got a replacement for Silva lined up already 3) a center back to marshal the defence.

Our midfield is still incredibly unbalanced. I would say that and ST should be the priorities. 

If Onana is genuinely the only GK we are looking at and costs 40m, we are better off sticking with Mendy. 

 

37 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Sky Sports claiming he’ll cost £120m or £100m plus a player. Can only see United spending that atm. 

Our midfield is still incredibly unbalanced. I would say that and ST should be the priorities. 

If Onana is genuinely the only GK we are looking at and costs 40m, we are better off sticking with Mendy. 

 

Sky also say West Ham will only sell to a Champions League club, which means they can refuse us.

55 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Sky Sports claiming he’ll cost £120m or £100m plus a player. Can only see United spending that atm. 

Our midfield is still incredibly unbalanced. I would say that and ST should be the priorities. 

If Onana is genuinely the only GK we are looking at and costs 40m, we are better off sticking with Mendy. 

 

Utd can’t though, they have got FFP concerns. They also need a No 9, and a RB at the minimum. The owners will be wary of making big money signings since their last 2; Sancho & Antony have flopped. 

The £120m price is just a deterrent; they don’t want to sell.

30 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Utd can’t though, they have got FFP concerns. They also need a No 9, and a RB at the minimum. The owners will be wary of making big money signings since their last 2; Sancho & Antony have flopped. 

The £120m price is just a deterrent; they don’t want to sell.

A lot is dependent on the new owners, but with regards to big money signing there is relatively little risk with Rice. I would imagine United's revenue stream and sponsorships allows them to bypass FFP with ease. Tie down Rice on a 5 year deal that is 30m of amortization only. 

Newcastle is also another shout especially if they qualify for Champions League. 

I don’t see us getting Rice given we spent £105m on Enzo. I know they are different positions but I think there’s probably other midfielders that could contribute and complement for a cheaper price. West Ham won’t get £120m for him, that’s stupid. 

5 minutes ago, JM7 said:

I don’t see us getting Rice given we spent £105m on Enzo. I know they are different positions but I think there’s probably other midfielders that could contribute and complement for a cheaper price. West Ham won’t get £120m for him, that’s stupid. 

Think Ugarte has a 50m release clause. Been linked with him recently. 

On 09/05/2023 at 01:04, True Blue23 said:

Drogba was still at Marseille at 26. Kane is still at Tottenham. Thiago Silva was still playing in Brazil at 25. Nemanja Matic only rejoined us at 25. Oh and not sure if Napoli falls into your definition of a top team, but if not, your beloved Jorginho only joined us at 26. Guess they were never any good.

None of those names had the marketing nor the hype as this Rice guy, which is my point if he's that good someone should splash the cash soon, no? 

None of those comparisons match but if I were to try I could compare this hype about Rice with Pogba, back when he signed back for Man United. And he was also younger than Rice at the time... And how did that turn out? He had all the hype and full price tag too. Only the comparison stops there since well, Pogba at the very least did win at Juventus so you could argue his price was justified to a degree but it still didn't really bring Man United anything special.

Let's also remember that West Ham did spend, almost 200m for Scamaca, Paqueta and that CB so technically Rice got a lot of help for this season, in multiple areas of the pitch and he still really isn't a game-changer at all. 

And to finish off, it's not like Pep is shy when it comes to buying from the PL, he spent on Phillips casually and on Grealish as well. Maybe there is a reason why Rice is still at West Ham after all.

On 09/05/2023 at 10:34, Sconnie Blue said:

Think Ugarte has a 50m release clause. Been linked with him recently. 

Yeah been some rumours popping up about him. His stats got his position are as impressive as Enzos for his when he was at Benfica. 

14 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Yeah been some rumours popping up about him. His stats got his position are as impressive as Enzos for his when he was at Benfica. 

Can't think of a more suitable player that complements Enzo more. 

A tenacious ball winner that's great on the ball. Will also bring that sh*tehousery we missed from Rudiger. He got sent off against Arsenal because he said f**k it and bashed Saka. Saka hasn't recovered since. 😂

Edited May 11, 20233 yr by Sconnie Blue

I'm not as incandescent about the prospect of signing him now he won't be our marquee midfield signing (and said marquee midfield signing will go a long way to covering his flaws in possesion) however for the price he'd command it would still leave me scratching my head a bit about what our recruitment team are here for.

Unlike with Enzo players of Rice's profile aren't rare, so surely this is where our new team earn their money (and save us some to use on other positions of need).

Good player but not the time for us to spend silly money when our priorities HAVE to be a top striker and a top keeper, neither of which are going to come cheap, so not even worth thinking about signing Rice.

Edited May 11, 20233 yr by Nibs

Just watching the West Ham game Ian Darke said Rice's people have stipulated he'll only join a club in the champions league so it's odds on Arsenal for him.

4 hours ago, bluehaze said:

Just watching the West Ham game Ian Darke said Rice's people have stipulated he'll only join a club in the champions league so it's odds on Arsenal for him.

United I reckon. Arsenal have their sights on that Sociedad midfielder after Caicedo fell through. 

15 hours ago, Gol15 said:

None of those names had the marketing nor the hype as this Rice guy, which is my point if he's that good someone should splash the cash soon, no? 

None of those comparisons match but if I were to try I could compare this hype about Rice with Pogba, back when he signed back for Man United. And he was also younger than Rice at the time... And how did that turn out? He had all the hype and full price tag too. Only the comparison stops there since well, Pogba at the very least did win at Juventus so you could argue his price was justified to a degree but it still didn't really bring Man United anything special.

Let's also remember that West Ham did spend, almost 200m for Scamaca, Paqueta and that CB so technically Rice got a lot of help for this season, in multiple areas of the pitch and he still really isn't a game-changer at all. 

And to finish off, it's not like Pep is shy when it comes to buying from the PL, he spent on Phillips casually and on Grealish as well. Maybe there is a reason why Rice is still at West Ham after all.

We spent £600m and standards dropped 10 fold, i guess Enzo must be a dud because he's got loads of help. 

10 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

We spent £600m and standards dropped 10 fold, i guess Enzo must be a dud because he's got loads of help. 

Enzo just came, Rice has been in the league for years and still hasn't done sh*t, so STFU Enzo can teach Rice about anything.