Source : Twitter
With news reports suggesting that reigning Premier League champions Manchester City
have this week secured the signing of Chelsea's Croatian international midfielder Mateo
Kovacic for a deal believed to be around the £30 million mark, it has also been
confirmed that Treble winning captain and German international, Ilkay Gundogan has
decided that he will make the move to Spanish giants Barcelona when his contract
naturally expires this summer.
Sadly for City fans he will not be signing the
contract extension that City put on the table
for him a good few weeks ago.
Added to that news, and despite previous reports suggested that this years title
challengers, Arsenal, were in pole position for England and West Ham United midfielder,
Declan Rice, having already submitted two solid bids for his services, Sky Sports News
are now claiming that their sources have confirmed that Pep Guardiola has instructed his
City bosses to get involved in the bidding and ensure that the 24 year old ends up at the
Etihad Stadium for the start of next season as they again look to defend their title. If he
does, people who
Visit Manchester City for the first time next year will find it strange that
he is no longer in claret and blue.
SSN reported yesterday that they believed The Hammers would receive two 'big' offers
for Rice on Thursday, and that one would be a follow up from Arsenal given the talks that
have already been held, and that the other would be from City directly.
With it being claimed that Arsenal's last submitted offer amounted to £90 million in total,
but West Ham were unhappy with the spread of the payments, City's potential gambit
was claimed by Sky in Italy to be £75 million up front, with £15 million in add on clauses -
but crucially - payable over two years only.
With it being claimed that Arsenal's last submitted offer amounted to £90 million in total,
but West Ham were unhappy with the spread of the payments, City's potential gambit
was claimed by Sky in Italy to be £75 million up front, with £15 million in add on clauses -
but crucially - payable over two years only.
If Arsenal's payment schedule was the sticking point for the West Ham board, even
though David Sullivan is already on record as stating he has accepted that Rice will
"99%" leave this summer, City's two year offer could well be far more palatable to them
and more quickly get a deal over the line without needing further expenditure.
This could be more important than it seems for Pep Guardiola's plans moving forward,
as if City can steal a march now with a more agreeable payment schedule, it will impact
on Arsenal's plans for the coming season as having run the title so close (and been the
favourites for so long given the quick start they had and the points advantage they once
held), they will naturally want to repeat that and somebody of Rice's calibre could well
help them do just that and it would be a good capture for Arsenal when it came to the
sale of
Premier League tickets.
Equally, reports suggest that Manchester United and Erik ten Hag are still sniffing
around Rice, but any actual move for him is said to be heavily contingent on their
Financial Fair Play positioning - particularly in light of the other targets that Ten Hag is
apparently after to strengthen the over all group given the improvements he has already
implemented.
It is certainly going to be an interesting summer for
City - but are they not always
interesting?
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Declan Rice profile