Gabby Agbonlahor has warned Arsenal that they have to beat Manchester United to the transfer of West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice.
The former striker warned Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal that they have been here before when they didn’t push the boat out to sign Mykhailo Mudryk in January, who ended up at Chelsea.
And now Agbonlahor has stated ‘I don’t care what Manchester United offer’, those at Arsenal need to ‘offer more’ and ensure Declan Rice is their player, as he told talkSPORT Breakfast (31/05/23 at 6:25 am).
Whilst West Ham United don’t want to lose Rice, at least they know that they will get top dollar for their player.
There is talk of £100 million, but if clubs start to fight over his signature, then it could be a lot more. Plus, if the Hammers win the Europa Conference League, then that might just add a few million.
Either way, with Rice’s future set to become clearer this summer, Agbonlahor thinks he has to be an Arsenal player by the end of it all.
“Declan Rice is a must,” said Agbonlahor. “I don’t care what Man United offer. I don’t care what anyone else offers, you should offer more.
“They missed out on Mudryk. It now looks like a good thing. But don’t miss out on Declan Rice.
“Yeah (I do worry they will miss out on Rice after the Mudryk saga). But I hope not. Declan Rice. Would he want to stay in London? He’s got a young family. Arsenal is a big club and Champions League football as well. He knows that he is guaranteed to start every game.
“You look at Manchester United. You have Eriksen, Fernandes and Casemiro – Arsenal and Man United would have already spoken to Rice and his agent.”
ARSENAL NEED RICE MORE THAN MANCHESTER UNITED
Both have number 6’s that have performed very well this season – Thomas Partey and Casemiro.
The issue for Arsenal is that towards the back end of the season, Partey’s form fell off a cliff to the point that he was dropped to the bench.
Rice would find it easier to dethrone Partey from the XI, in comparison to Casemiro, simply because the latter is far more proven.
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