Recent comments from former Manchester United player Roy Keane and pundit Gary Neville suggest that Rice has not lived up to the hype surrounding him, despite being a talented player.
Roy Keane criticized Rice’s performance this season
Manchester United reportedly made a £100m bid for West Ham captain Declan Rice last summer, but the question remains: is he worth the price tag? Recent comments from former Manchester United player Roy Keane and pundit Gary Neville suggest that Rice has not lived up to the hype surrounding him, despite being a talented player. Keane criticized Rice’s performance this season, saying that he needs to do more and score more goals and assists to compete with the top midfielders in the country. Meanwhile, Neville praised Rice’s ability but suggested that he needs to work under a different setup and play for another club to take his career to the next level.
Rice does trail behind other players in terms of goal involvement since 2017/18.
In terms of his development over the past six seasons, Rice has evolved from a right-sided centre-back to a defensive midfielder. He has pushed upfield more in recent seasons, but his goal involvement have stagnated somewhat, with most of his shots coming from range and only two league goals and assists to his name this season. It is worth noting that West Ham’s overall performance this season has been lacklustre, with the team currently sitting in 16th place in the league and only 23 goals scored compared to 44 at the same point last season. However, Rice does trail behind other players in terms of goal involvement since 2017/18.
Despite Rice’s talent, both Keane and Neville have expressed doubts about his worth as a £100m player. Neville suggested that Manchester United should not spend more than £50m-£60m on Rice, while Keane believes that he needs to do more to compete with top midfielders in the country. Overall, it seems that while Rice is a talented player, he still has room for improvement to justify his high price tag. Whether he stays with West Ham or moves to a different club in the future, he will need to work on scoring more goals and assists to compete with the best midfielders in the country.