‘Scared off’: Arsenal could back away from deal for ‘world class’ player, Chelsea love him though – journalist

Add as preferred source on Google

Arsenal could be put off of a deal to sign Declan Rice this summer due to his pricetag according to Graeme Bailey.

Speaking on the Talking Transfers Podcast, Bailey was discussing Rice’s future, and while he notes that Arsenal are widely considered to be the favourites to sign the England international this summer, he stated that the Gunners could be the first team scared off by his astronomical asking price.

Rice has been touted as a £100m+ player in the past by David Moyes, and Bailey believes that the north London club could be scared off by this sort of fee.

Arsenal could back away

Bailey spoke about the so-called ‘world class’ midfielder.

“Yeah I think project wise Arsenal tick all of the boxes, he likes them, there’s no doubt about that. Arsenal may be regarded as the favourites, but I think they’re the ones who will be scared off first by the price if I’m being honest. We know Chelsea are in there, Chelsea love him and they want to bring him home, he loves the club,” Bailey said.

Very Chelsea

West Ham will clearly want to get as much money as they can for Rice, and the way to do that is to pitch to the clubs who will spend in the most reckless manner.

If the Hammers do indeed want more than £100m for Rice, then they should be pitching directly at Chelsea, not Arsenal.

Make no mistake about it, Rice is not a £100m player. He’s not really been outstanding this season in a team that is in a relegation battle, but if there’s any club that could be talked into spending that much on Rice, it’s the Blues.

Signing Rice for a mammoth fee is a very Chelsea move.