Man Utd made to pay for two-year-long transfer blunder as Gary Neville proven emphatically wrong
Bryan Robson believes that Arsenal star Declan Rice is a shining example of the type of player Manchester United need to have to compete on multiple fronts this season.
Man Utd‘s new season got off to a woeful start as they went down to a 2-0 defeat to newly-promoted Hull City in the Premier League on Saturday.
For now, they will purely focus on the Premier League and putting things right on Sunday against Ipswich Town. But when the Champions League rolls round soon, Michael Carrick’s men will have to contend with the league, the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, and Europe.
The Red Devils finished third last season but benefitted from a less congested schedule. Now, former Man Utd ace Robson has asked the question if they have a Rice-like player in their team who can play 50+ games a season.
He said on talkSPORT, “I think we’ll only see as the season goes on. Some players can handle it [playing three times a week]. I look at people like Rice down at Arsenal. He played in more or less every single game.
“They never seemed to rest him and that’s because he’s such a terrific player. For me, you’ve always got to look at who’s a terrific player and he’ll be in your side more or less every week. You’ve just got to keep watching them and seeing if they’re tiring a bit.
“There’s certain games where you’re confident that you can rest one of your better players and put somebody else in where they’ve got to prove themselves. I think it’ll be a little bit more difficult this season because of that because you’ve got the Champions League games. Hopefully, we do far better than what we did last season in the Carabao Cup.
“Because I think where United are now, if they don’t finish in the top four, that’ll be very disappointing. But because of the way the last few years have gone, I think we need to win a cup.”
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Man Utd kicking themselves over Rice miss
Man Utd may be kicking themselves for not going all out to sign Rice back when he was at West Ham United.
In 2021, reports surfaced that the Red Devils wanted Rice but were put off by West Ham’s £80-90million valuation.
Around that time, former Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – who was sacked in late 2021 by the Glazers – seemingly wanted to recruit the midfielder.
In 2024, the Norwegian said, “Yeah, [there was interest] I really, really like him as a player. We discussed him a few times and I think we would have done well with him in midfield. I think his legs, covering the pitch.
“I think he improved a lot on his playmaking as well. Yeah [he was available]. Obviously, he would have cost some money but we could have and should have gone for him.”
In the summer of 2022, reports emerged that Man Utd bid £100m for the England international, before Arsenal paid £105m to secure his services the following year.
A few months before that deal, Gary Neville pooh-poohed the idea of paying that sort of sum for Rice.
He said in early 2023, “I love Declan Rice. Obviously, Declan knows the position, but when I look at world-class holding midfielders, and players of that type, because he doesn’t score or assist enough goals, you’re putting him into that category of more of a destroyer.
“But for me, I wouldn’t be spending £110m or £120m on Rice if I was Manchester United this summer. I would spend £50m-£60m on Declan Rice, but I wouldn’t spend the figures being reported.”
It is clear that Neville, and arguably Man Utd, got that one wrong on the Arsenal talisman.
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