Manchester United have been tracking Declan Rice for a very long time and the good news is that the midfielder is interested in joining the Red Devils as well.
According to MEN, the West Ham star is interested in agreeing a move to Man Utd and he has already talked with skipper Harry Maguire and left back Luke Shaw about the aspects of the Old Trafford club.
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The well-known news source have claimed that the 20-time English champions have tracked the England international for over 2 years and they are looking to finally sign him when the next transfer market opens.
Last week, The Athletic revealed that Man Utd are looking at the option of sending Lingard to the Hammers on permanent basis in order to sign Rice.
I do think Manchester United lack a specialist defensive midfielder in their squad and they need someone who can break things in the center of the park in front of the backline.
Reigning champions Liverpool have a world class DM in the form of Fabinho, runaway leaders this term, Manchester City, broke the bank to lure Rodri and Chelsea have a proven quality play breaker in the form of N’Golo Kante.
On the other hand, Man Utd have a veteran holding midfield player in the form of Nemanja Matic. The Serbian will turn 33 in August, he is past his best and has only started 10 games in the Premier League this season. Not sure why his contract was extended if Ole had to keep him on the bench more often than not.
22-year-old Rice could be the long term replacement but he is going to cost a lot. West Ham could ask for a huge price of £70million to sell the young midfielder (ESPN). In your opinion, should Solskjaer splash the cash to finally sign him?
The price quoted is short by £30-50 million. Lingard’s agent has already told Man U that Jessie is not to be bundled up in any attempt to purchase Declan Rice, so only a straight cash offer over £100m and most likely closer to £120m will get West Ham to the negotiation table. If Champions/Europa League qualification is achieved this season, then no amount will induce West Ham to sell.
Declan as a very social person, and out of interest, is obviously going to sound all his team mates in the England camp out on their clubs, but in way can it be inferred that he has any great wish to join them. It’s called ‘making conversation’. He may have asked Bellingham what his digs are like in Dortmund or enquired of Harry Cane what it is like to captain Spurs, but he is no more or less likely to be interested in a transfer to those clubs than Salford or Man U. DR’s father is now his agent and just happens to be a Chelsea season ticket holder. His first club was Chelsea, where his best friend, Mount, plays. If any club is to buy DR, it will be Chelsea when Kante leaves/retires. In the meantime he is a big fish in a small pool, captaining the team for most of this season and more next year. He is happy within the best team atmosphere in the PL, he is trusted by his manager, adored by the fans (gaining near cult status and would dearly like to ultimately join Mark Noble in the Legend class). He will become one of the top earners next year.
Why would he want to join Man United?
Because Man Utd may challenge for the title and because they could pay him over £200,000-a-week