Steve Nicol has questioned the prospect of Declan Rice being worth over £100m, insisting that an asking price of £80m would be far more reasonable.
Jurgen Klopp was reportedly a huge admirer of the West Ham star, if one report from Football Insider is to be believed.
“Listen, he’s not worth £120 million or anything like that. I think to pay [£80 million] would be fair. I would pay £80 million for him,” the ex-Red told ESPN (via The Boot Room).
“You’re getting a guy who knows the Premier League. You know exactly what you’re going to get.
“There’s no settling in period. Or getting used to the play or any of that nonsense. He’s coming straight in and playing I think and being one of your best players, certainly one of your best midfielders.”
Given that David Moyes has clearly stated the England international won’t go for anything less than a British transfer record, however, it’ll be interesting to see whether any interested party is capable of negotiating a lower fee.
£80m would certainly be a more palatable fee on our end and is perhaps possible in light of the fact Rice only has one year remaining on his contract.
With the Hammers struggling this term and the player perhaps keen to boost his chances of winning silverware, we’d be far from surprised to see him seek pastures new at the end of the season.
At 24 years of age, it’s a potential signing that would strengthen many clubs’ midfield departments for the foreseeable future, so we’d hope that Liverpool would be at least probing the player and club to test out the possibility.