The biggest transfer saga this summer is the chase for Declan Rice’s signature. West Ham has stood firm; they want £100 million or more to let their star man leave. Three bids, two from Arsenal and one from Manchester City have already been rejected.
At the moment, whoever wins Rice’s race will be the one who wants him the most. Arsenal needs him to take the Gunners to the next level; they have eyed him since the start of this calendar year, but the question is; does Manchester City even want him?
Former England Women’s forward Eni Aluko insinuates that the Citizens may not be in Rice’s transfer race to win it. She implies that Pep Guardiola could just have thrown Manchester City into the race for the Englishman to help out his friend, Mikel Arteta.
Speaking on talkSPORT, she told Laura Woods that Man City’s placing the £90 million bid (which ironically is almost the exact figure Arsenal packaged in total for their second bid) may have just been to push the Arsenal decision-makers to be willing to break the bank for Arteta.
“I don’t think Manchester City actually want to sign Declan Rice. I think what’s going on here is Arteta’s picked up the phone to Pep, said,’ Listen, you know, Arsenal are going to do the sort of increment mental bid approach. If you put a higher bid in, that will push my owner to… I think there’s a bit of that going on here,” suggested Aluko of how Guardiola may be aiding Arteta to get Rice.
Aluko’s claims must have perplexed many. However, she defends them, as she claims, from her experience as a sporting director in the past; that’s how some managers inspire their bosses to gift them deals they desperately need.
“As a sporting director, I used to do this a lot. So I used to call up a club, big club, and say, “Right, can you put in a bid in?” And that would get my owner to basically put a higher bid in. It’s a bit like an auction, isn’t it?” she added.
If only her claims that Man City may, after all, not want Rice had any truth, what a boost that would be to Arsenal. Whether true or not, Arsenal needs to present a convincing third bid to West Ham that seals the Rice transfer.
Daniel O
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