Graeme Souness would prefer to sign £80m star linked with Chelsea over Enzo Fernandez

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Graeme Souness admits he would much prefer to sign West Ham’s Declan Rice over Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez because he would be much less of a gamble.

Chelsea coughed up a British-record sum of £106.8million in January to sign Fernandez from Benfica.

The 22-year-old midfielder earned a huge move to Stamford Bridge after impressing in Benfica colours, as well as playing a pivotal role in Argentina winning the World Cup in December.

He’ll now be trying to mix it in the Premier League against some top-class midfielders.

Pundit Souness has explained he would choose to sign Rice over Fernandez as a Premier League club because the former is proven in the English division.

Rice, 24, is a little bit further along in his development as a player given he’s made 200-plus West Ham appearances. A big difference between him and Fernandez is that the Argentine can add a bit more offensively, though.

“The talk since Fernandez arrived at Chelsea for £105million has been: ‘Does this mean Rice is suddenly at least a £110million player’ and the answer has to be ‘yes’ – because Chelsea have inflated the market,” Souness told the Daily Mail.

“If you’re taking a £100million gamble on either Fernandez or Rice, you’re taking Rice all day long because you’re removing the biggest question mark, about whether he can deal with the Premier League’s intensity.

“West Ham will be asking Rice to do what he does best at the London Stadium on Saturday/today by shielding the defence and minimizing Chelsea’s threat. Can he add those other two dimensions? I don’t really know if you can learn a cuteness of pass or an eye for a goal but time will tell. He is a young, talented footballer and can only get better.”

Interestingly, Rice is someone that’s been linked with a move to Chelsea frequently in recent months.

If the Blues are willing to go big on Fernandez, would they do the same for West Ham’s captain in the summer?

The Telegraph explained in January that Graham Potter’s side could battle Arsenal in the summer to sign Rice.

However, the Daily Mail did report recently that Fernandez’s arrival at Stamford Bridge could scupper plans to get West Ham’s £80million-rated midfielderer.

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