On the Chasing Green Arrows YouTube channel, journalist Dean Jones has revealed that a Premier League club has a significant interest in West Ham United’s Declan Rice.
Last week, reports emerged of West Ham offering star midfielder Rice a new contract amid interest from the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City, although the deal would have seen him tied down for another eight years – something that hasn’t been accepted from the player’s side.
Will Rice leave this summer?
Yes!
No!
Rice has become a regular in this West Ham side under David Moyes, as well as in the England setup, and while that has helped propel the Hammers into Europe, it has also seen him attract a lot of interest from teams higher up in the league.
Jones believes that Man City, who have already agreed a deal in principle to sign Erling Haaland, are well and truly interested in Rice after claiming Ilkay Gundogan may be on his way out.
He said: “I think that it shows that Man City are now going for a big-time midfielder. It’ll be interesting to see as they’ve shown interest in Declan Rice, too. I reckon they might get serious here and go for someone ridiculous.”
TIF Thoughts on Rice’s future…
The England midfielder is continuing to reject new contract offers placed in front of him by West Ham, which may have changed had the Hammers managed to finish inside the top four this season or even reached the Europa League final.
If Man City came knocking with a lucrative offer for both West Ham and Rice in terms of wages and the chance to win titles while playing in the Champions League, it could be very difficult for both parties to turn it down, despite Rice coming through the ranks at West Ham and if he feels he owes them a lot for how they’ve developed him into the midfielder he is today.
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The two teams that have always been a worry as far as Declan is concerned, are Liverpool and Man City (because they’re both serial trophy winners, and that would obviously be a big draw for the boy). Liverpool won’t pay the asking price for him (or any player) – preferring to rely on their tried and tested method of relentless tapping up – but Man City just might (or, say, £90m plus Ake). I even wonder if a deal is already in place (maybe not for this summer, but maybe for a year’s time). I hope I’m wrong, anyway, and that he stays at West Ham for a long, long time… He definitely won’t be going to Man Utd or Chelsea, in any case, since West Ham are level with those two clubs and a move to either would just be a sideways step for Declan. West Ham are also not in the business of selling to direct rivals, so those two clubs can just go and whistle…