Liverpool could turn to signing Declan Rice sooner or later sooner moderately than later as a long-term successor to Jordan Henderson has been tipped. Several midfielders have been linked however the West Ham star is perhaps the very best option.
Liverpool must determine that signing Rice as a alternative for Henderson is their best plan of action over anything either this transfer window or next.
That was the decision from Danny Murphy earlier this 12 months and people words have echoed into the summer amid links the West Ham star is trying to leave. Jurgen Klopp has been insistent that he doesn’t need a alternative for Georginio Wijnaldum, who left for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021 on a free transfer.
Yet, while Henderson might still just be 32, within the near future there’ll come a time when the Liverpool captain will hang up his boots at Anfield. His departure will leave a serious void in midfield, not only in quality but in leadership as well.
Klopp has been unbelievable at bringing in players before his top stars leave, allowing for a period of settling in moderately than being thrown straight into the hearth. It has worked with Andy Robertson when Alberto Moreno was urged out of the team and appears to have been a masterstroke when Luis Diaz was signed in January as Sadio Mane departed for Bayern Munich earlier this summer.
It signifies that Klopp would moderately have his Henderson alternative within the team before the England international has even decided whether he wants to go away or not. And Murphy reckons there may be a simple answer over who must be the person to fill the gap.
He said in March: “I believe for those who’re in search of a Jordan Henderson alternative, you then need someone who might be there for the subsequent ten years. Rice is an excellent athlete; he can get box-to-box like Henderson and he leads others around him.
“He doesn’t need to play the holding role, but he could if Fabinho got injured, and I believe he could grow to be an excellent number eight in a greater side.
“He’ll have the option to get forward more and rating goals which he has shown at times. I do know he’ll be really expensive, and Liverpool won’t pay that kind of money. But for those who’re asking me from a fan’s mindset and a pundit mindset, then if Liverpool were to only sign Declan Rice it will be an exceptional signing. But as I say I believe it will be unlikely.”
Whether Rice would need a move to Liverpool stays to be seen, though it will be difficult to envisage a situation where he turns them down. He has held off signing a recent contract with West Ham to try push through a move to a Champions League team and there are fewer locations more attractive than Anfield at once.
Nonetheless, the Englishman’s love for Chelsea is not any secret having grown up down the road from the club, being in a family stuffed with Blues fans and being on their books until he age of 14. If Thomas Tuchel entered the race for the midfielder, it is perhaps too tempting for Rice to show away from – despite Liverpool’s current scenario.
