Graeme Souness and Ally McCoist are both of the opinion that Declan Rice would have been a better signing for Chelsea than Enzo Fernandez. The West Ham captain has been heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge for some time now, with Graham Potter eager to bolster his options in midfield.
But, instead of signing Rice, Todd Boehly opted for the signing of the Argentina international. The Blues hierarchy held extensive talks with Benfica on deadline day in order to sign Fernandez, who was identified as a primary target in late December, football.london understands.
The Argentine signed an eight-and-a-half-year contract, becoming the most expensive player in the club's history and breaking the British transfer record in the process. But, despite winning the 'best young player' award at the World Cup, Souness and McCoist believe that Rice is the better player.
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Speaking to the Daily Mail, the former Liverpool defender claimed that the England international's asking price has now inflated following Fernandez's move to Chelsea. Souness said: "The talk since Fernandez arrived at Chelsea for £105million has been: ‘does this mean Rice is suddenly at least a £110million player?’ And the answer has to be ‘yes’ – because Chelsea have inflated the market.
"If you’re taking a £100million gamble on either Fernandez or Rice, you’re taking Rice all day long because you’re removing the biggest question mark, about whether he can deal with the Premier League’s intensity.
"West Ham will be asking Rice to do what he does best at the London Stadium on Saturday by shielding the defence and minimising Chelsea’s threat. Can he add those other two dimensions?
"I don’t really know if you can learn a cuteness of pass or an eye for a goal but time will tell. He is a young, talented footballer and can only get better."
McCoist agrees, insisting that Rice is the 'better option'. On January transfer deadline day, he told talkSPORT: "The West Ham fans won’t thank me for but if Chelsea are going to spend all sorts of money on Fernandez and Arsenal were looking to spend a right few on Caicedo, then surely Declan Rice is a good and better option than the pair of them?
"Why are Chelsea going for Fernandez and spending all that money, when they can potentially test the water on West Ham, I am just going to annoy West Ham supporters and I don’t want to do it."
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