Gary Neville tells Man Utd to AVOID £100m player

Jacque Talbot

• Updated: 8 Apr 2023 13:38 BST
• 3 min read

Gary Neville doesn't feel Declan Rice is worth the touted £100million and says his former club Manchester United must opt not to go for the West Ham star.

The Sky Sports pundit admitted that though Rice is a superb player, for that price they should look at alternatives.

"There’s no doubt for West Ham he’s their best player," said Neville, speaking on Sky Sports. "He is influential. He's been brilliant for England, I think the only sort of criticism comes in the supposed price tag being asked for him is around £100million.

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"When you get a £100million player you expect they are going to be the complete player, so from that point of view is Declan as good as say Rodri or Casemiro receiving the ball from the back four? Is he as good as say Bruno Fernandes going forward, or a player of that ilk? No.

"He fits in between a little bit of both of them, there’s no doubt he’s an excellent player, great character, someone who is important to his club, but I think the challenge is who’s going to pay £100 million for him and is he that type of value? It’s not so much a criticism, more an observation around his ability relating to that price."

Rice still liked by Premier League's elite

It is thought that Man Utd are keen on buying the Hammers captain. But West Ham have regularly said that they would want a club-record fee for the 24-year-old, but this may go down if the club do find themselves relegated this campaign - in which case it’s possible that they will have to let him go for less.

They endured one of their worst displays of the season against Newcastle mid-week, getting hammered 5-1 at the London Stadium.