Rice is too rich for Pep’s taste

Pep Guardiola is a big ‘admirer’ of Declan Rice but is not prepared to pay £100m or more the West Ham defensive midfielder.

Instead, City is reported to want to sign Sassuolo midfielder Manuel Locatelli.

A product of the AC Milan academy, Manuel Locatelli, 23, left the club in the summer of 2018 to join Sassuolo initially on loan. Following his impressive performances in central midfield during his debut campaign at Mapei Stadium, Sassuolo signed him permanently a year later.

City also an option in their own Academy with U23s captain Tommy Doyle is the most obvious name who is under contract until 2025. He is a classy midfielder, who at 19 is already outgrowing under-23 football, Doyle has spent plenty of time in the last two seasons in first-team training. He’s done enough to feature for the first team in the domestic cups, Premier League and Champions League already.

It is great that Rice’s price stage has put clubs like Manchester City off!