The transfer saga surrounding West Ham captain Declan Rice has taken an intriguing turn as Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola held a private meeting with the midfielder reports the Metro.
Guardiola’s aim was to convince Rice to reject a potential move to Arsenal and consider joining the ranks at the Etihad Stadium instead. The meeting adds another layer of intensity to the battle between the two Premier League giants for the talented England international.
West Ham swiftly turned down Manchester City’s initial bid for Rice, which was said to be an initial £80 million with additional add-ons worth £10 million. However, the Hammers are holding firm and seeking a transfer fee exceeding the £100 million mark, indicating their determination to get their full valuation for the player.
While Arsenal has made significant progress in their pursuit of Rice, it appears that Guardiola’s late intervention may have swayed the player’s preference. Mikel Arteta’s early contact and the enticing vision of a prominent role at Arsenal had initially attracted Rice. However, Guardiola’s persuasive skills and the prospect of filling potential gaps in City’s midfield following Ilkay Gundogan’s departure and the uncertainty surrounding Bernardo Silva’s future may have caught Rice’s attention.
Just Arsenal Opinion
Ultimately, the decision lies with Rice, who will weigh the advantages offered by Manchester City’s financial muscle and Arsenal’s promising project.
It is going to be a very interesting few days, especially if Man Utd also joins the battle for the signature of the West Ham captain.
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The Metro!!!!!!! Really.
You think that’s absurd? How about Eni Aluko on TalkSport suggesting that Arteta asked Pep to make a bid for Rice in order to get our owners to shift themselves into getting the deal done? Said she used to do it all the time as sporting director.
Talksport! Nuff said jax 😂
Should have said talkshite .
Jax, i think it is absurd we should think the metro is a reliable source for us. If i was Arteta and i thought Pep was interested, i would be ringing “my mate” and saying ” stop flucking it up for me or i will never speak to you again you twit” 🤣
Thats twit with an a.
The warning signs of choosing Man city should be plain to see fo Declan Rice.
The West Ham captain is certainly more than ready to be beating heart of a trophy challenging team, something he would be at Arsenal.
The gunners are crying out for a player in the mold of Rice, who would also bring leadership and trophy winning experience to a young squad.
He would not have the same status at City, where he would likely be challenging Rodri and Phillips for a spot in Pep Guardiola team.
The gaffer side meanwhile are starting to show we can be contenders and Rice can earn legendary status if he helps to give us the final push our two unbroken long decade of title drought.
You only needs to look at Phillips to see how a player can stall by selecting City and for that reason, Arsenal has to be Rice preferred choice.
You are right and i am sure Rice knows that but Rice also cant be sure Arsenal will go full out for him, so he can’t burn all his bridges. Unless he want to force wetspams hand by putting a tranfer request in or go on strike, which he wont do either.
👍🏻👍🏻
I don’t understand this Rice’s obsession, Frank de Jong of Barcelona is there for the take cheaper, those two young French midfielders in Madrid are also there. I kept saying the guy is highly overhyped. He’s good but not worth the 90m price tag.
Having read the Metro article, Pep’s apparent meeting with Rice, if in fact it ever happened, wasn’t recently but a few weeks ago. The way things have been reported and the way things are panning out, I think the story is basically made up rubbish.
Because we report everything about Arsenal. Whether you like it or not. Reg….
Pep is in Egypt now.
Apparently Rice isnt in England either. 🤣🤣 Nor Egypt
What bothers me about these kinds of transfers is that, while rice was highly rated before, it’s now being taken as a given that he’s one of, if not the best central midfielder in the world, and it’s purely because west ham are asking for so much money – he might be, but doing well at a club like whu doesn’t always translate when playing at a higher level.
It’s just assumed we couldn’t get anyone as good or better from elsewhere now, whereas if whu were asking for, say, 70m, or rice wasn’t interested in a move this summer, he’d remain a promising/very good CM in most people’s minds imo.
I’m sort of invested now, because I want to know if he’ll be worth it, but at the same time, there’s surely better value to be had – de Jong has been mentioned, and I’d have thought napoli would have a more affordable alternative that could do the job for us (former Fulham midfielder, who’s name escapes me?). There’s very likely several great smaller names in Netherlands, Italy, Germany, France and Spain, but we’d have to have done our homework – would they fit our playing style? and do they have the right personality to be a success? – but it’s doable if you invest in proper scouting.