The biggest transfer saga this summer is the chase for Declan Rice’s signature. West Ham has stood firm; they want £100 million or more to let their star man leave. Three bids, two from Arsenal and one from Manchester City have already been rejected.
At the moment, whoever wins Rice’s race will be the one who wants him the most. Arsenal needs him to take the Gunners to the next level; they have eyed him since the start of this calendar year, but the question is; does Manchester City even want him?
Former England Women’s forward Eni Aluko insinuates that the Citizens may not be in Rice’s transfer race to win it. She implies that Pep Guardiola could just have thrown Manchester City into the race for the Englishman to help out his friend, Mikel Arteta.
Speaking on talkSPORT, she told Laura Woods that Man City’s placing the £90 million bid (which ironically is almost the exact figure Arsenal packaged in total for their second bid) may have just been to push the Arsenal decision-makers to be willing to break the bank for Arteta.
“I don’t think Manchester City actually want to sign Declan Rice. I think what’s going on here is Arteta’s picked up the phone to Pep, said,’ Listen, you know, Arsenal are going to do the sort of increment mental bid approach. If you put a higher bid in, that will push my owner to… I think there’s a bit of that going on here,” suggested Aluko of how Guardiola may be aiding Arteta to get Rice.
Aluko’s claims must have perplexed many. However, she defends them, as she claims, from her experience as a sporting director in the past; that’s how some managers inspire their bosses to gift them deals they desperately need.
“As a sporting director, I used to do this a lot. So I used to call up a club, big club, and say, “Right, can you put in a bid in?” And that would get my owner to basically put a higher bid in. It’s a bit like an auction, isn’t it?” she added.
If only her claims that Man City may, after all, not want Rice had any truth, what a boost that would be to Arsenal. Whether true or not, Arsenal needs to present a convincing third bid to West Ham that seals the Rice transfer.
Daniel O
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https://talksport.com/football/1479711/eni-aluko-declan-rice-man-city-arsenal/
There is some basis to her assumption. i mean why would City bid for exactly the same amount albeit a diff pay structure.
Surely if you want to beat your competitor to a target then the obvious thing would be to put in a higher bid. By doing this it would prevent your competitor frm coming back with a higher bid if yours is also rejected, like in this instance.
Someting is FISHY. I smell a RAT. Got a feeling this could turn into a CATastrophy for westHAM.
Is not a DIFFERENT pay structure, by definition, a different offer!!
Plaudits thougH for you last line, which made me laugh, even though I got DOG tired by the end of it.
It was a different pay structure as well Jon as our offer was main payment over 5 years and City’s main payment over 2 years.
GB thanks for agreeing with my point, though I suspect that NEITHER of us know for certain , what PRECISELY was in the payment structure , as all we have to go on are varous media reports many of whaich will be inaccurate. Dont you agree?
Legend has it that as bizarre as it may sound such a practice does happen in the pass.
I have always question man city intrest in Rice but for total different reason, I know the two Spaniard are two bossom buddies and that their friendship may go back to many moons, but if such a theory to be true, it would have been a deception on a different level not seen since the eve of desert storm.
Hope I am wrong but am not in a position to say stranger things has happened in football.
The logic to this Pep and Arteta collusion does not make any sense whatsoever.
Why would Pep want to help his nearest rival to a highly rated player? You want to weaken your immediate rivals in order to have a better chance of beating them to the trophies you are both going for.
That’s like saying “Wenger and Fergie” conspiring to help each other in the league. How does that make any sense? Fergie is getting in a bidding war for a player in order to help Wenger get him? What kind of logic is this?
Can someone please try to make this whole thing make any logical / rational sense.
It’s very juvenile childish reasoning in my opinion. But I am open to being corrected.
The big difference in this is that we can’t doubt their friendship which can sometimes surpass any rivalry.
There is no friendship like that in the league where 2 very competitive managers / Rivals conspire to help strengthen the other.
I just think that City are trying to stop Arsenal from strengthening more than they already are. Pep did not see us as title challengers to him last season so was okay giving away Jesus and Zinchecko to us. He got a complete shock the way those 2 players improved and helped us.
There is no way he is that naive and nice to try to absolutely help his closest rival strength in an area that we definitely are desperate to bolster. Friendship does not go as far as propping a very serious rival.
You could help out a mid table club like Palace, Villa, Everton etc but not Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, United etc..
It makes zero sense to me..
Goonster,You are open to correction but you have no need to be corrected but simply supported by myself, for your astute and correct thinking.
The Eni Aluko statement seems to me to be an open audition for playing the role of Machiavelli.
Perhaps she ought to write thrillers and crime stories, as wild imagination is a bonus in those genres.
Eni Aluko and her imaginative conspiracy theories. 🤯
Somebody get her a metal colander to wear to keep the aliens from stealing her brain…… maybe too late?? 😏
I obviously see the logic of her theory. City’s 90m bid goes to show they were not so willing to outbid us, seeing as it was the same offer made by us but just a different structure. And unlike mudryk’s, there was every inclination arsenal was preparing another offer that would definitely be incrementally more than the prior 90m offer, yet they offered that same amount. Now we have made a 105m bid .if city doesn’t match or out bid that offer , I will have every reason to believe end’s claims.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a preposterous idea as Ms Aluko has put forward. I don’t think she will be getting anymore sporting director positions based on what’s she has admitted doing previously!
The latest reports are that Arsenal have placed a third bid worth 100 m pounds with a further 5 m pounds as add ons. doubt whether WHU will refuse this, think Rice will be playing for Arsenal next season.
Rejected as soon as it was sent in! £105 is enough, walk away. £80m was too much as it was…. on to new targets now!
One on the major flaws in Oluko’s illogical thinking is that Pep isn’t responsible for transfers and has said so in the past, Tixi Begistrian deals with all transfer business which is controlled through a transfer policy identifying targets months in advance. This is just normal business why offer more than you have to if the payment terms are better for the selling club its a more attractive offer – simples
Why would City think that a better structure of the deal could work? For them to believe in that they would have to have seen us getting our total fee accepted but then needing us to sit down and rearrange a better structure of the deal. That did not happen as they were less than impressed by our offer. It feels like City should’ve known that the total fee was not acceptable, Another thing in favor of her judgment is that Pep is so confident in himself and his teams’ abilities that it would not change even if he did lend a hand to a rival, Pep is so sure in everything he does, so capable and able and this could be why she thinks their friendship has played a part.
Myself, I think it was a genuine bid but I’m just trying to see it from another side