Dwight Yorke questions whether Declan Rice is worth more than Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez
Speaking to OLBG (h/t Football.London), former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke has questioned the fact that West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice is worth more than Chelsea counterpart Enzo Fernandez.
Chelsea broke the British transfer record to sign Fernandez from Benfica on the deadline day of the January transfer window. They got the World Cup winner for a fee worth around £106.8m.
Before the last summer transfer window, West Ham boss David Moyes slapped a high price tag on Rice, suggesting that the England international is worth beyond £150m. Last week, Moyes confirmed that the British transfer window will once again need to be broken if Rice leaves in the coming summer.
Questioning that thought and understanding what Moyes meant by that, here’s Yorke (h/t Football.London):
“David Moyes has said Declan Rice would break the transfer record because he’s seen how much Chelsea have signed Enzo Fernandez for. Rice is an English product so Moyes has to big him up, you can’t let all the foreigners come and take the limelight!
“Rice is a good player but he does not influence the game enough at a top level for me, I would not say he is as tremendous as everyone makes him out to be. With the market we’re in, Rice will have a similar fee to Fernandez, we’ve seen prices like that on English players like Jack Grealish.”
We all know Chelsea have been linked with Rice for some time. However, recent reports have suggested that the Englishman would prefer a move to Arsenal in the coming summer.
When it comes to positions, both Fernandez and Rice operate in a similar area of the field. For Chelsea, it makes no sense to fork out that amount for a player in a position they have spent £100m+ on.
If we talk about price tags, it is a subjective matter. One would think the Blues were not interested in spending that big an amount on Fernandez, but Benfica were adamant that a deal will only be struck if the full release clause is paid.
The prices for an English player are hyped up at times, to be honest. For example, Jack Grealish is not a £100m player, yet Manchester City had no option but to pay that much to get him from Aston Villa.
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The same could be the case with Rice. If Arsenal are leading the race to sign him, they won’t have much option other than forking out what West Ham are demanding.