Peter Crouch has suggested that Liverpool will find it too difficult to land Declan Rice this summer due to the likely expense of a transfer bid.
The ex-Red would certainly have good reason to hold that view in light of the midfielder’s £100m price-tag ahead of the summer window.
“I know he’s being linked elsewhere but I’d absolutely love to see Declan Rice come in (into Liverpool) as well. He’s a class act and I think he could go to any club and be a great signing for them,” the former England international told Paddy Power (via the Mirror). “It probably won’t be Liverpool as he’s going to be very expensive, but it would be a great addition.”
The 24-year-old does, however, possess a contract that is due to expire in 2024, which could throw a sizeable spanner into the works as far as West Ham’s plans are concerned.
With the likes of Arsenal and Bayern Munich snooping ahead of the opening of the window on June 14th, of course, the Hammers can perhaps be confident that they’ll get the bidding war they need to keep the price-tag high.
In which case, we’d be far from surprised to see ourselves excluded from the table, if our prior exit from talks with Jude Bellingham are anything to go by.
There’s no question we’d love to see a player of Rice’s – likened to Steven Gerrard by Teddy Sheringham (as quoted by the Daily Mail) – quality donning the famous red shirt. That being said, if we can continue to find great value in the market as we did with Alexis Mac Allister, we’d be far from unhappy.