Manchester City are reportedly ready to step up their interest in the potential £100million transfer of West Ham star Declan Rice.
The England international is also linked with Manchester United and Chelsea by the Daily Mail, but City are ready to give Pep Guardiola the funds to pursue this big-money move.
Rice looks ideal to replace Fernandinho at the Etihad Stadium, and the report suggests they could have the edge over Man Utd due to their strong financial position, aided by recent sales.
Chelsea are also reported by the Mail as being Rice’s preferred destination, though that currently looks unlikely amid the ongoing doubts over the club’s ownership.
This is a huge blow for Chelsea, with Rice an ideal long-term replacement for N’Golo Kante, but it now seems this former academy player is going to end up strengthening a major rival.
This is not the first time CFC have let top young players leave too soon, with Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah the best examples, while Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori look like going down a similar path after reviving their careers in Serie A.
United also urgently need a signing like Rice as part of their rebuild under new manager Erik ten Hag this summer, but the Red Devils may have to look elsewhere.
The Mail suggest that City will have the edge over their local rivals due to being more likely to be able to offer Rice trophies.
Oh dear. Wrong again. ITS A MINIMUM 150 MILL and Rice has already agreed to stay next year and see then. WRONG AGAIN You seem to repeat anything anyone says-usually wrong. Ever heard of research and quality control.?
Yet another stupid attempt to grind down the price with the old “Say it enough times and it’ll become true” trick. When / If WHU decide (and it IS up to WHU as things stand, not Dec) to sell him, it’ll be ‘Bids starting at £150M’… There will likely only be a few clubs that can run with that, but once the club has an offer that is acceptable to it, it will THEN be down to Dec if he fancies it or not.