‘Come to the Emirates and be loved!’ – Piers Morgan sends personal plea for Declan Rice to join Arsenal and rues losing top target Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea
Piers Morgan has pleaded with Declan Rice to join Mikel Arteta’s revolution at Arsenal and hopes he won't follow former top target Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea.
The Gunners fan joined talkSPORT to send a personal message to the West Ham captain to join his beloved club, although admitted he may not be a regular starter if he moved to the Emirates Stadium.
With Arsenal eight points clear at the top of the Premier League table and the January transfer window still open, Morgan insists Arteta has to strike now to strengthen his squad while they’re in the ascendancy.
They missed out on Mudryk last week as their long-term pursuit ended with London rivals Chelsea hijacking the deal and outbidding them to sign the forward for £88million.
And Morgan has urged the Gunners not to miss out on another star who he feels would instantly improve their squad in Rice.
Reports have emerged linking Arsenal with an interest in the England midfeidler, with claims the north London side is willing to make an £80m bid.
It is suggested West Ham would demand closer to £100m for their club captain and key man.
But Morgan says he is the marquee signing Arsenal need to strengthen their hold on pole position in the title race - even though he may not immediately get in the team over Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka.
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“If we want to win the league we’ve got to get serious in this market now and bolster the reserves both in midfield and up front,” Morgan told the talkSPORT Breakfast.
“I love Declan Rice. I’ve had this conversation with him on Twitter where I’ve begged him to come before. I think he’s exactly what we need.
“I think that when Arsenal have our first XI starting, including Xhaka and Partey, we look really strong, but if one of those two gets injured, I think we need another big midfield enforcer who can also play a role in attack too.
“Rice can do everything and he’s got that right mentality, the right attitude, I think he’s very much an Arteta-style player and I think he would fit absolutely perfectly into our squad.
“So Declan, come on, I know you’re listening, Declan - come, come to the Emirates! Come and be loved!
“You can’t win a league title with just 11 great players, you need to have proper squad and this is why Man City keep winning the league - they’ve got two great players in every position. If you want to be serious you’ve got to have a lot of people competing for the top positions, and it would be great for Arsenal to bring in a player of Rice’s quality.
“No, he wouldn’t be guaranteed to start in every game, but nor would anybody else if they came in, and that’s exactly how it should be. You play the players who are in form and if you have an injury you’re not thinking, ‘Oh my god we’re going to lose three games’, you’ve got top players who can come in at any time.
“If we’re serious, and it looks to me that Arteta is really serious now about winning big trophies and I’ve been begging for this to happen at Arsenal for a long time.
“I don’t count the domestic cups as big trophies anymore, the big trophies are Premier League title and Champions League and we’ve been in one Champions League final ever - it’s just not good enough for a club of Arsenal’s size and stature, or the fact we pay the highest ticket prices in Europe still.
“So we need to be ambitious, this has been my big problem with Arsenal through the last eight years of Arsene Wenger, then Unai Emery and then the first two years under Arteta, there seemed to be a lack of ambition to win the big trophies.
“But now I can feel it. I can feel that Arteta is building something special and the board and the Kroenkes have got to support him.”
Responding to missing out on Mudryk, Morgan admitted he would have loved to see the Ukrainian join his compatriot Oleksandr Zinchenko at the Emirates.
And he says there are no excuses for not signing Rice now, with money in the bank to spend and central midfield one of the key areas Arteta needs to bolster.
“I look at the Mudryk situation and, I won’t lie, I wish we’d signed him - I think he’s a brilliant prospect,” added Morgan.
“I think he’s got the right mentality, he’s hard as nails, I look at Zinchenko and what he’s done for us since he came and I think Ukrainian players - maybe because of what’s going on in their country - have this extraordinary resilience about them, this strength of character, and he seems an incredibly well-adjusted young man and looks a lightning fast and a great prospect.
“We got outbid by Chelsea and a lot of Arsenal fans are saying we shouldn't squander that kind of money on somebody who is unproven, but actually I think we should have gone the extra mile to get him over the line, and I think we should sign Declan Rice and tried to get them both.
“If you want to win the big stuff, you’ve got to go for these big players when they’re available.
“But it’s done, he’s gone to Chelsea, good luck to him.
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“If it was a choice between Mudryk or Rice, I would personally prefer Rice, so if that is the alternative in the summer, great!
“But right now we have an opportunity we maybe aren’t going to get again in the future, which is we’re eight points clear in the Premier League and have a chance to win this and the transfer window is still open, so we’ve got to reinforce. We need another big midfielder and we need another forward, and we’ve got to get them in quick.”
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