Manchester City are reportedly set to strongly rival Arsenal for the transfer of West Ham United captain Declan Rice.
The England international has been dominating transfer gossip headlines for some time now after some superb form for West Ham, but it’s long looked like Arsenal would be the favourites for his signature.
Fabrizio Romano has recently told CaughtOffside that Arsenal are Rice’s preference, but it now seems that Man City are seriously entering the equation now.
See below as Gianluca Di Marzio claims the Premier League champions are strongly entering the race for Rice, and are preparing a bid for the 24-year-old…
.@ManCity strongly join the race for Declan #Rice from @WestHam – alongside @Arsenal. #MCFC working on a bid. @NathGissing @SkySport
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) June 22, 2023
Rice is clearly a world class talent who could make a big impact at City, though it’s also slightly hard to imagine he’d be guaranteed as much of a key role at the Etihad Stadium.
City already have the immense Rodri in that position, while Mateo Kovacic is on his way as well, as reported by Romano here, while there’s also the underrated Kalvin Phillips warming the bench.
Arsenal surely need Rice more and will no doubt be desperate to get this over the line quickly so they can clinch an important signing to close the gap on City in next season’s title race.