Manchester City are now ready to join the transfer battle for West Ham midfielder Declan Rice, MySportDab reports.
City are ready to back Pep Guardiola in the summer transfer market and dent Manchester United’s plans.
Despite already agreeing a £63m deal for Dortmund striker Erling Haaland, City still want to sign Rice this summer.
Pep Guardiola wants a replacement for club captain Fernandinho, who will leave at the end of the season.
Manchester City’s net spend over the past one year has been just £37m with the signing of Jack Grealish covered the sale of Ferran Torres, Jack Harrison and Angelino.
The current Premier League Champions now have a massive financial advantage over rivals Manchester United.
The Red Devils were planning to build a new-look team around Rice but they will have a small transfer budget without the Champions League.
Also, the possibility of challenging for trophies under Pep Guardiola is more interesting for any young midfielder like Rice at 23-years-old.
According to The Daily Mail, Manchester City have asked to be informed of Rice’s future plans in the summer.
The only big problem for any transfer deal would be West Ham’s asking price for the player.
Last summer, City refused to pay the £150m asking price for Harry Kane.
Rice has no interest in signing a new contract as he looks to leave the club.
Realistically, Rice would be more open to returning back to Chelsea, where he played as a young academy talent.
However, the current ownership situation at Chelsea makes it very unlikely.
Ahead of Chelsea’s 1-0 win against West Ham today, Coach Thomas Tuchel revealed that Rice won’t be joining the club.
‘Maybe he is far out there even without our current crisis,’ said Tuchel.
‘That is the situation due to the numbers around the player now.
‘As you know, we don’t like speaking about other players, when we are interested or not interested.’
Even so, Tuchel is still a big fan of Rice’s all-round performance in midfield.
‘He is one of few i rate very highly, and he has proved himself.’
West Ham are confident that winning the Europa League and qualifying for the Champions League will convince Rice to stay.
The Hammers play against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League semi-final.
