Tag Archives: Declan Rice

Arsenal forever – Declan Rice and the ironic dream

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As a die-hard Arsenal fan, the thought of my beloved team winning the Premier League
sends shivers down my spine, I still hold the memories of past years winning the league.

The passion, the emotions, the sheer excitement of watching the Gunners lift the trophy is a dream that every Arsenal supporter cherishes at this moment in time. But is this dream really possible? Can Arsenal overcome the odds and emerge victorious in
the highly competitive world of English football?

The Irony of Fate could possibly come true?

Picture this: it’s the last day of the season, and Arsenal find themselves still in a
neck-to-neck race with Manchester City for the title.

The Gunners need to win their last game and hope Man City come un stuck, that’s if both teams keep winning till the last day, hoping, praying they do and our Arsenal clinch the premiership on the last day, and that’s where fate steps in….

West Ham, a team often overshadowed by the big guns of English football, is set to face off against City at their home ground. The irony lies in the fact that West Ham, a team with a loyal following but not known for its consistent performance, could be the unlikely heroes in Arsenal’s quest for glory.

A Gift to Remember

If West Ham manages to pull off a stunning victory or draw against City, it would be
nothing short of a gift to Arsenal. The scenes of jubilation at the Emirates Stadium would be unparalleled as fans celebrate the long-awaited triumph. But the irony doesn’t end there.

Declan Rice, a former West Ham player turned Arsenal star, and his former club would be the one delivering the final blow to City.

A gift from West ham or fate that it would end like this?

West Ham getting the result for our Arsenal and Declan Rice scoring the winner against
Everton?

The same team that had once sold Declan Rice to Arsenal and helped no end in performances week in week out had now unintentionally propelled them towards
Premiership glory.

Could it be a beautiful display of irony in the world of football, where allegiances and
outcomes can change in the blink of an eye.

Where a team’s victory against all odds turned out to be a blessing in disguise for their
former player’s current club. And amidst the chaos of the final day of the season to unfold, the true magic of the beautiful game may just shine through in all its ironic glory.

It would be a poetic end to a season filled with drama and suspense.

It’s also ironic that after the game with Spurs and The failed attempt in derailing our season their fans are hoping for their own team to lose against Man City, oblivious to the fact that our Arsenal will also have to play Man Utd.

And with Man U out of the Champions League spots, do their fans really want Man City to win the league? Can you see them doing a favour for their rivals, I highly doubt it! So that’s ironic within itself.

Typical Spurs fans, living in their own bubble of delusion and pity.

The Power of Belief

For Arsenal to win the Premier League, belief is essential. The players, the manager, the
fans – everyone must believe that the impossible is possible. It requires sheer determination, unwavering commitment, and a never-say-die attitude. The journey to the top is never easy, but with the right mindset and a bit of luck, Arsenal can rewrite history and claim their rightful place as champions.


In the world of football, anything can happen. The underdogs can emerge victorious, dreams can turn into reality, and heroes can be born. As an Arsenal fan, the thought of my team winning the Premier League again fills me with hope and excitement.

The irony of fate, the gift of victory, and the power of belief – these are the ingredients
needed for Arsenal to lift the trophy and etch their name in footballing folklore. So, is Arsenal winning the Premier League a dream to come true?

Only time will tell. But one thing’s for sure – as long as there’s hope, there’s a chance for
glory.

No matter the result – whether we win the premiership or come in second place – one thing remains true: our team has instilled in us belief, passion, love, and a sense of winning and loyalty that we truly cherish. So, from the depths of my heart, I want to express my gratitude to Arsenal for the incredible journey you have taken us on this season. Thank you for everything.

North London forever, forever RED

Oh yeah .what do you think of Tottenham!

PcB

Declan Rice to captain England on 50th cap as Ashley Cole inducted into Premier League Hall of Fame

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Morning!

Declan Rice will captain England tonight on the day of his 50th cap. Having played the full 90 minutes on Saturday, you would have thought Gareth Southgate would have given him the match off. Win his 50th cap another day.

Southgate has seen Bukayo Saka, Harry Kane, Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker and Sam Johnstone all withdraw through “injury”. You would have thought by now he would realise that if he wants his best players to be available, he should do deals with clubs and manage their playing time.

Jordan Pickford, John Stones, Rice, Phil Foden and Ollie Watkins all played the full 90 on Saturday. I wonder how many Southgate will pick tonight.

In terms of other Arsenal news, Ashley Cole was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame yesterday.

I actually have no issue with Cole and what happened with Chelsea.

Yes, at the time I was fuming. He joined a direct rival and the stories about he nearly crashed his car after only being offered £55,000 a week felt crass. But as I grew up and matured, I realised Arsenal, and David Dein, were in the wrong.

Cole had agreed a £60,000 a week contract with the Arsenal hierarchy. He was happy to sign on the dotted line. Then when the offer came through it was for £55k a week. It was an underhand move by Dein, alienating a boyhood fan, academy graduate and future captain.

Whenever I see people saying “Arsenal would be in a much better position if Dein had remained involved in the club”, I think about the Cole situation and how his decision forced a potential Arsenal legend out of the club.

It was also Dein, remember, who encouraged other board members to sell their shares to Stan Kroenke, before he sold his own to Alisher Usmanov which created the ownership split and led to our decade long stagnation. It is not a surprise how far Arsenal have moved forward on and off the pitch since Kroenke became 100% owner.

I might never consider Ashley Cole an Arsenal legend, but he is our best ever left-back.

The big transfer rumour is that we are looking to “match Chelsea'” and bid £60m for Ousmane Diomande.

Whilst Diomande is clearly a bright young talent, I can not see us spending £60m on a central defender unless either Gabriel or William Saliba leave. This very much feels like a story inserted by an agent to generate interest in his client.

Likewise, I also can not see us triggering the £103m release clause for Diomande’s teammate Viktor Gyokeres.

£103m is a huge fee for someone who turns 26 soon, and has only had a decent 18 months in the Championship and 1 good season in Portugal.

I have issue paying top dollar for top players (as the Declan Rice deal proves). But this would be a huge chunk of our summer spending on someone who would not be guaranteed a start.

I expect us to spend around £160m this summer, depending on sales.

£27m is already committed to David Raya, and another £10-ish million will need to be spent on an Aaron Ramsdale replacement. That wil lleave us with around £130m left to make additional improvemnts.

We need a central midfielder and a striker. That is not up for debate. We also potentially need another winger.

Our first option is to buy a truly top striker that will be guaranteed to start ahead of Gabriel Jesus, and then Jesus is the back up striker and the cover to Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka. I do not feel Gyokeres is that man.

The alternative is to buy someone who can compete with Jesus, and potentially grow into a superstar in the future. To further add to the squad, we then go out and buy another winger so that Jesus can continue to be utilised primarily up top.

Whilst Gyokeres could be this “alternative option to Jesus”, his proposed transfer fee would mean we would then not have enough in the pot to buy another winger.

If we are spending around £130m, I would rather Arsenal trigger the release clauses of Benjamin Sesko, Nico Williams and Martin Zubimendi (total – £138m), then spend £103m on Gyokeres and only have £30m left to try and recruit a midfielder.

Remember to grab your Bayern Munich tickets if you have not already done so!

Keenos

Arsenal need to go “all in” on a defensive midfielder

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The recruitment of Leandro Trossard, Jakub Kiwior and Jorginho in January means that we have two players for every position:

Ramsdale
White Saliba Gabriel Zinchenko
Partey
Saka Odegaard Xhaka Martinelli
Jesus

Turner
Tomiyasu Holding Kiwior Tierney
Elneny
ESR Vieira Jorginho Trossard
Nketiah

The only two position which see a huge drop off from first team to second team is Partey to Elneny. Albert Sambi Lokonga has also proved himself not to be a great option.

Arsenal have been linked for some time with a new “6” and new “8”, and many of us expected us to sign someone in January having missed out on Douglas Luiz on deadline day in the summer.

We stayed quiet on the central midfield position for much of the window, and saw one of our long term targets join Nottingham Forest – Danilo.

The lack of activity in these positions indicated one thing. That we would go big on a central midfielder at some point.

Then the news about Moises Caicedo broke. We were then unable to get the deal over the line.

So come the summer, central midfield is where we need to heavily invest – and specifically cover and competition for Thomas Partey.

Partey has missed the last 2 games with injury, and if we were not already in for a top class midfielder, his latest injury would have changed that opinion.

Since joining us, his career has been blighted by muscle injuries. We have tried to manager the situation this year, but his body has failed him again.

The best defensive midfielder in the world when fit, our last two seasons have collapsed at the same time he has picked up an injury. It will be devastating if his latest injury is the reason we stumble in the title race.

We do not have a great deal of business to do this summer – Jorginho, Trossard and Kiwior have added squad depth in places where it lacked. The defensive midfielder could be our only major signing. that means we could be looking to spend close to £80million on someone.

We already know our 3 main targets. I have blogged on the enough. But a quick summary:

Declan Rice

I recently blogged on my views on Declan Rice.

My gut had always been that he is “too advanced” in his career to join us. That it would be pointless signing such a developed player when we already have Thomas Partey.

But when you look at how many games Partey misses, a case can be made for having two top players in that position.

For West Ham, Rice has also been a driving force going forward, meaning that he provides that Xhaka cover alongside competing with Partey.

Some pundits have also said that his long term future could be as a ball playing central defender.

Signing Rice could mean that Rob Holding is sold. We then have Rice or White as the injury replacement for William Saliba.

The transfer fee also previously scared me off Rice – West Ham were demanding in excess of £100m. But recent valuations have been in and around £80m. And that will only drop further if they are relegated.

With Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City not in the market for someone of Rice’s mould, that leaves the path free for Arsenal and Chelsea. And Chelsea seem to prefer Moises Caicedo.

Arsenal could further reduce the fee if we let Kieran Tierney go the other way.

“Cash + player” deals are rare in football. There a lot of moving components:

Player A needs to want to join Club B
Player B needs to want to join Club A
Club B need to want to sign Player A
Club A need to want to sign Player B

If West Ham do stay up, they will be in the market for a left back – Aaron Cresswell is now 33. Tierney would be a good option for them.

Likewise, Arsenal would clearly want Rice.

As for the players, Rice’s first choice would be a return to Chelsea – his family still live neasr Cobham. But if that deal fails to come off, then a move to Arsenal would be a no brainer.

Tierney is then only difficult one.

Would he want to take that “step down” to West Ham? There are plenty of “pro’s” including not having to move and getting regular first team football.

I think Rice will become our first choice.

Moises Caicedo

If Rice ends up going to Chelsea, that leaves us in the driving seat to sign Caicedo.

I actually think Caicedo is more suitable for us taking into account his age and playing style.

He is more similar in style of play to Thomas Partey and just 21-years-old, can be more gradually bought in to replace the Ghanaian.

We showed our hand in January, but Brighton held firm.

The deal failed to go through and I would not be surprised if Arsenal are back in for him in the summer.

Rice and Caicedo on the market. You almost need Arsenal and Chelsea directors to get together and decide who they each want. and agree not to enter into a bidding war for the other target.

Martin Zubimendi

Arsenal’s Stats DNA has pointed to Martin Zubimendi as an alternative to Rice and Caicedo.

The Spanish midfielder highlights why having stat based recruitment is so important.

It allows you to find players of similar attributes as your main target, but might now have the “big name”.

Zubimendi has a £52.8m release clause, making him the cheapest man on this list. But many statisticians show his output is not do dissimilar to Declan Rice.

Earlier in January, reports were that we had triggered the release clause, but Zubimendi had decided to remain at Real Sociedad until the end of the season.

This is admirable as he is born and bred in San Sebastián and joined his home town club at 11.

Sociedad currently sit 3rd in La Liga. Zubimendi clearly feels an obligation to secure his team a Champions League spot for the first time in a decade.

However, there is talk that Zubimendi might also be waiting for Barcelona. Have they given him the heads up they will move for him in the summer?

I think he is the Plan B to Rice and Caicedo who are Plan A’s.

The only concern will be is if he gets a move early in the window and then we miss out on Rice/Caicedo.

And we do not have the funds to spend £50m+ on him and then “sign another” later in the summer.

They way I see it is simple.

Rice is valued at around £80million. Zubimendi has a £52million-ish release clause. Caicedo should sit between the two.

If Brighton still demand a huge fee for Caicedo, then Rice at a similar large fee makes more sense. Or alternatively we go for the much cheapr Zubimendi.

If we can battle the fee for Caicedo down to closer to what Zubimendi will cost, then the Columbian becomes our first choice.

In the summer, I expect one big signing – a defensive midfielder – and that is probably about it.

The squad is now in the position where we make one or two big signings a summer, and then the rest is as players leave. A bit like where Man City are right now.

Who would you prefer?

Keenos