Graeme Souness has implied that the signing of Mateo Kovacic by Manchester City is better than that of Arsenal bringing in Declan Rice.
In his column for the Daily Mail, the outspoken pundit ranked the best 10 signings in the Premier League this summer ahead of next season.
Graeme Souness ranked the pickup of Mateo Kovacic as fourth in his list, while Declan Rice was spotted right at the bottom of this list at 10th place.
Graeme Souness says Mateo Kovacic to Manchester City is a better transfer than Declan Rice to Arsenal
While City were interested in signing the former West Ham captain, it was reported that they pulled out of the race, with the Gunners eventually sealing the deal for a mammoth £105 million fee (Sky Sports).
As a result, the only midfielder that the treble-winners have brought in after Ilkay Gundogan’s exit is the Croatian international.
Graeme Souness believes the signing of Mateo Kovacic is superior to that of Declan Rice, as the former ranked six places above the latter.
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“He is a smart signing for what City need after losing their captain Ilkay [Ilkay] Gundogan. He can play and will work hard. I can see him doing a decent job for City and they know what they’re getting. There isn’t much risk with this one.”
While it is clear that Graeme Souness is not as convinced by the prospect of Declan Rice in an Arsenal shirt, he also had a question marked aimed towards Mateo Kovacic.
“But he is an offensive midfielder who does not score enough goals. He scored three times in 109 games for Real Madrid, a team who dominate every game they play. Can he add goals at City, like Gundogan did? If so, they’ve got a great deal at £25 million.”
Only time will tell which midfielder will come out on top as comparisons between the pair may become commonplace as the season progresses.