That’s why you don’t evaluate players based on just stats. Eye test + advanced stats >. Rice has great positional awareness, he’s more than likely in the right place at the right time, really good reader of the game, and aggressive. All of that is portable to any team, defending will not be an issue. The question mark with him will be can he play for these top sides who dominate possession and ask for more out of their 6 on the ball.
In a vacuum, he’s not a £100M player. But when you factor in his age, what he means to his current club, him being homegrown (the importance of this doesn’t get mentioned enough), West Ham not wanting to sell, and the current market, I can see why they priced a transfer at 100M.
They, or any club, don’t pay the transfer fee all at once. They pay in installments, that’s why you see links to Mount, Onana, and Hojlund even though their combined cost would be well over 100 mil.