Forget Rice: Arsenal should splash the cash on 22-year-old Klopp wants at Liverpool- Our View
In our view, Arsenal should ditch a transfer for West Ham United skipper Declan Rice to sign Florian Wirtz instead.
It has been recently claimed that Mikel Arteta’s side are keen on signing the German international, while Fabrizio Romano revealed that Jurgen Klopp is desperate to bring him to Liverpool in the summer.
As Arsenal continue to get linked with Declan Rice, we have presented a case for why Florian Wirtz, who was likened to Phil Foden by Xabi Alonso via the Daily Mail would make for a superior transfer instead.
Wirtz would be better value for money for Arsenal than Rice
Gary Neville rightly pointed out that as sensational as the England international is, quoting a £120 million price tag for a player that does not get goals and assists is absurd.
While Declan Rice could thrive as a box-to-box midfielder in front of Thomas Partey at Arsenal, Florian Wirtz could occupy the same left-sided attacking role whilst also producing end product, which is one key reason why the transfer for him makes more sense.
At just 22 years old, the Bayer Leverkusen attacker is already putting up impressive numbers for a team outside Bundesliga’s top three; 5 league goals and 6 assists in the 2020/2021 season and 7 goals and 10 assists last campaign.
Despite suffering a serious injury in the previous term, Florian Wirtz managed to rack up brilliant goal and assist numbers, whilst also having set up four goals this campaign in 7 starts since his return.
While Rice brings a lot of defensive solidity and brilliant ball-carrying ability to the table, Arsenal could certainly do with an upgrade on Granit Xhaka in that left-sided advanced midfield role, where Wirtz is already playing under Xabi Alonso.
Ultimately, the pressure on the likes of Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli is huge, which should prompt the Gunners to bring in one of the continent’s most productive creators through the door.
Even if Declan Rice and Florian Wirtz were available at the same price, it makes a lot more sense for Arsenal to target the latter as their transfer priority, who has the potential to become the best attacking midfielder in Europe one day.
In other news, Report: Leeds United currently planning to axe ‘relentless’ £29m Aston Villa target this summer
