'Fans will kill him': Patrice Evra says 24-year-old will get torn to shreds if Arsenal sign him for £100m

By Charles Jones

Speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel, Patrice Evra has been discussing Declan Rice’s future amid a number of links to Arsenal.

According to The Times, Rice is the Gunners’ top transfer target heading into the summer transfer window, but Evra has some reservations about the midfielder making this kind of move.

Indeed, the Frenchman says that Rice will be targeted by the fans of whichever club he joins if he is signed for £100m as has been touted, stating that the West Ham ace is not ready for a big move.

Interestingly, Evra claimed that the midfielder is not a leader and that the media get a lot of things wrong about the England international.

Rice isn’t ready

Evra gave his view on Rice.

“Declan Rice, we say he’s the future, as soon as you hit £100m, many fans will kill him,” Evra said.

Evra was then asked if Rice is good enough to play for one of the top clubs amid links to Arsenal.

“He can (play for a top club) if he has the right manager and the right players around him. He’s not a leader, he’s not ready in the way people in the media talk about him. I played with him. He’s not ready but he’s going in the right direction.”

Not a leader?

It’s really interesting hearing Evra speak about Rice in this way, because it’s the opposite of what we have heard for so long.

For the longest time we’ve heard about how Rice is such a brilliant captain and that he’s ready to be a star for a big club, but Evra has basically said that he’s not ready for such a role and that he’s not a very good leader.

Evra will know better than most, having been his teammate at West Ham, but perhaps this is just a bit of recency bias due to Rice’s recent poor performances.