City looking to beat Arsenal to Rice

Manchester City are looking to beat Arsenal to the signing of Declan Rice following the Gunners failed first bid. The Hammers have rejected an initial Arsenal bid for Rice declaring it to be ‘much lower’ than the valuation. Whilst it is not known precisely how low the offer was, the rumours start at £80 million. West Ham owner David Sullivan has let it be known that he wants £120m to secure Rice’s services. Whilst that value might seem a little excessive, £80m is probably too low to facilitate his London Stadium departure.

We know Rice is off

Sullivan recently confirmed that he expected the 24-year-old to leave this summer after coming to an agreement last year. As a result the board tried to encourage a bidding war. Speaking after the Hammers beat Fiorentina to win the Conference League, Sullivan said: ‘We gave the promise last summer that if he gave us his all, we would let him leave the club. It’s the right and proper thing to do.

‘West Ham is a very proper club, and we do things in a proper way. At the same time, we don’t want some club having us over but a replacement is going to cost 50 to 60 million so they’re not going to be as good as him.’

We tried to keep Declan

Sullivan also revealed that the midfielder turned down a massive new deal but he intends to move on. ‘We promised he could go. He set his heart on going. You can’t ask for a man who has committed more to us this season,’ Sullivan told talkSPORT. ‘In due course, he has to get on and we have to get a replacement – or several replacements. ‘It’s not something we want to happen. We offered him £200,000-a-week 18 months ago. He turned it down. It’s cost him £10million to stay at West Ham in that time. Therefore he wants to go. You can’t keep a player who doesn’t want to be there.’ It is now being reported that Manchester City are considering entering the bidding for Rice. This would be welcome news for the Hammers with Bayern Munich and Manchester United recently withdrawing from the chase.