Manchester United were victorious in the Manchester Derby yesterday, as they defied the odds and ended City’s record breaking winning streak. Up next is a round of 16 Europa League clash on Thursday, but until then we have some transfer items to discuss.
Let’s dive right in with West Ham midfielder Declan Rice. Irons manager and former United boss David Moyes spoke to the media about the market value of Rice, a player who has been strongly linked to both United and Chelsea.
“I don’t agree with the [West Ham] owners that Declan Rice is a £100m footballer,” Moyes said.
“Far, far more than £100m. Far, far more. I certainly wouldn’t put a price on it. You can decide which figure you want to put on it but I wouldn’t be sanctioning anything like that, that’s for sure.
“Do we need the Champions League to keep Declan?
“No, because Declan is under contract first and foremost, so he can’t go anywhere no matter what, and I keep saying it and I hope people know that when I say something, I mean it.”
Moyes went on to say that no bid has been made for Rice, in spite of the all the transfer gossip.
“We’ve not had an offer for Declan Rice and I hope we don’t get one. And you’ve got an idea now of where we’d need to be if it was even going to be considered, certainly be me.
“For me, I have watched the prices of some players who have gone to clubs recently and they could not lace Declan Rice’s boots.”
Moving on to the best young pure scorer in the football today, Borussia Dortmund’s sensational forward Erling Haaland. Like Rice, he’s also been linked to both Chelsea and United. And it will be interesting to see if Manchester City focus more on him this summer, or Lionel Messi.
This week brings news that Real Madrid are getting into the mix too. It’s going to be a highly publicized, multifaceted transfer battle, which could wage all summer, and the final fee could be about €150 million. United’s Norwegian connections, through manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, didn’t help acquire him previously, but we’ll see if that changes.
Finally, the position battle in between the sticks is going to come to a head at some point. Eventually David de Gea or Dean Henderson may be moving on. According to ESPN, De Gea could find a new suitor in Paris Saint-Germain.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.