Declan Rice can be the player that transforms Arsenal into serial winners should he join in a club-record £100million deal.
That is according to ex-Chelsea star Tony Cascarino, who believes that the 24-year-old could be Mikel Arteta’s final piece of the puzzle.
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Cascarino has argued that the England international can have the same impact at the Emirates as Liverpool duo Alisson and Virgil van Dijk have had at Anfield.
The pair made the move to Merseyside in 2018, which coincided with the Reds winning every major honour in the last five years.
Rice is known to be Arsenal’s No.1 target this summer with the Gunners already having two bids rejected by West Ham.
talkSPORT understands that the Hammers are encouraging Arsenal to make a third bid worth £100m to close the deal with Manchester City yet to turn their interest into a formal offer.
And speaking on the Weekend Sports Breakfast, Cascarino is of the opinion that Rice is exactly the type of player Arsenal are crying out for.
He said: “If you look at Arsenal, since Arteta came in December 2019, that season they got 56 points.
“He hadn’t played a part earlier in the season, the next season they got 61, the next season they got 69.
“And last year they got 84, so there’s a real upward curve at Arsenal.
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“Declan Rice would make the impact that Alisson and Van Dijk made at Liverpool by coming.”
Casacrino then went on to state that Rice wouldn’t be a first team regular should he link up with the Citizens.
The Marseille cult hero remarked: “It’s an easy choice – Man City is an easy choice as in they could easily win the double next year and maybe more.
“That’s the thing you’ve got to really consider, but how big a part do you really play in that if you go to Manchester City?
“Because it’s not impossible that they could spend £100m and he could be a bit-part player at Man City.
“Some people might laugh at that, well that’s exactly the first season of Jack Grealish.”
He added: “I do think there is a very high possibility that he won’t play as much football as he would like.”
