It has recently been claimed that Newcastle United were in the mix for one of the biggest transfers of the summer having talked with Declan Rice who now seems destined for Arsenal.
Alex Crook of TalkSPORT has claimed via his Twitter that Newcastle had held talks over a move for Declan Rice this summer, but ultimately backed out.
We knew Newcastle were interested as it had been reported everywhere, but there was always a feeling that it was just another one of those easy stories for journalists – linking an expensive player to the “richest club in the world”.
TalkSPORT confirmed that Newcastle held talks with Declan Rice
However, TalkSPORT have now said: “BREAKING: Rice, who has also held talks with Newcastle, has made it clear Arsenal are his preferred destination. Arsenal have offered a guaranteed £100m plus add-ons. – talkSPORT sources understand.”
Arsenal now lead the chase for Declan Rice who was one called ‘underrated‘ by Don Hutchison. I’m not sure you could use that word to describe him now with a £105million bid on the table.
As Alex Crook’s tweet mentioned, the move to Newcastle was always unlikely. The Magpies were never likely to break the £100million barrier at this stage in the project, as much as they’d probably like to. Also, pulling Rice away from London was always going to be tricky.
The Magpies opted to sign Sandro Tonali who can do just as good a job as Rice
Manchester City pushed Arsenal when they approached West Ham for Rice, but realistically it always looked like he’d go to Arsenal.
Rice is not daft and he’d know that he’d have to displace Rodri in Man City’s side and that’s not going to be an easy task.
However strong or weak Newcastle’s interest was in Rice there’s no doubt that it ended when Sandro Tonali said yes to the Toon. Tonali has all the qualities of Declan Rice but for a fraction of the cost, showing again that English Tax is very much a thing.
I’m not saying Tonali is as good as Rice … yet. But I don’t think he’s far off, and Newcastle can be extremely pleased with what they’ve got.
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