Manchester City learn asking fee for Declan Rice
Manchester City, Manchester United, and Chelsea have all been linked with a swoop for Declan Rice this summer.
The Englishman has been the best player for the Hammers this season and was also the standout performer for England in the Euro 2020 earlier this year. With that said, City have been eyeing Rice as the potential replacement for club legend and veteran, Fernandinho.
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Fernandinho was close to leaving the club last summer but the Cityzens wanted to keep him for another season but with Rodri gaining time over him, the time for the Brazilian at the Etihad finally seems to have come to an end.
Rice is a player that Pep Guardiola is said to admire. The holding midfielder has already established himself as one of the best players in his position and he is only 22-years-old.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Simon Jordan said,
"“It probably will be north of £100m because that is the ridiculous market place we are in.”“Where he goes is a debate between who pitches his agent and how that agent is pitched and what the opportinity exists looks like.Source: talkSPORT"
The Englishman has featured 150 times for the Hammers in the Premier League and the 22-year-old has 6 goals and 8 assists to his name.
The transfer race for the midfielder is far from over though. Manchester United and Chelsea are not going to give up on signing the 22-year-old as the Red Devils believe that Rice is their permanent solution to their issues surrounding a fixed-holding midfielder in the XI. Paul Pogba can be played in that position but the Frenchman tends to do better when playing on the left-side of the midfield.
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As revealed, a fee in the range of £100 million onwards will be required to convince West Ham to part ways with Rice, whose contract at the London Stadium expires in 2024. There is no hiding that the Hammers hold the upper hand in any potential negotiations involving Rice, at least until the summer of 2023.
Manchester City will be looking to make Rice one of their topmost priorities for the next summer, apart from signing a striker, of course.