How Rice can learn from Ronaldo over transfer wish
Martin Macdonald
- 25 Apr 2022 10:41 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea are all eager to sign Declan Rice from West Ham this summer.
The England international is now considered one of the best midfielders in the Premier League following a vast improvement in his performances over the last 18 months, while he starred for the Three Lions at Euro 2020.
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West Ham have improved massively under David Moyes, with a European semi-final on the horizon, but the general feeling is that Rice will eventually be moved on for a huge fee, probably well in excess of £100 million.
Rice was previously at Chelsea as a youth player but was released as a 14-year-old.
He has been linked strongly with a return to Stamford Bridge, with Man Utd also eager to bring the player to Old Trafford.
The latest news concerning Rice is that he has turned down the opportunity to become West Ham's best-paid player in the club's history.
The Hammers offered the midfielder £200,000 per week to sign a new contract, but it was rejected by the player, who has aspirations of moving to an elite club.
Moyes recently revealed how much it would take for West Ham to sell Rice, saying:
“£150 million just now would be the minimum, but he is not for sale. What I do know is that it means there are only certain clubs that could even consider it.”
The Guardian reports that Rice understands West Ham's position and that he will not allow professional standards to drop or demand that he be sold.
Neville's advice for Rice
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville believes that Rice can learn from how Cristiano Ronaldo conducted himself when pushing for that world-record move to Real Madrid in 2009.
Though Ronaldo wanted the move, conversations took place behind closed doors and he never let his feelings be known publicly.
"Declan Rice, we know he’s going to leave in the next year or two," Neville told Sky Sports News.
"Because of the relationship, I think they can be really mature about this. I don’t think it has to be played out in the media. They can be really direct, honest and then communicate what they’re going to do.
"I don’t think there’s any reason to allow the speculation to destroy the dressing room spirit.
"When Cristiano [Ronaldo] left Man United the first time, it didn’t have an impact on the club because everyone knew what was happening. There was no sort of wondering what was happening, there was no speculation.
"I think West Ham and Declan Rice could afford to do that with this one because everyone recognises that it’s probably going to happen anyway."
