Poor Arsenal. They had the Declan Rice deal on the verge, but chose to lowball West Ham United, thinking they could get the star man on the cheap. Their move backfired, as the hesitancy opened the door for both Manchester clubs to now enter the race.
Arsenal was always going to come back with another offer, but now it will be have to be closer to the £100m mark, if not over it.
West Ham still reportedly want to reach £105m, and of course, north of that if possible. Meanwhile Luke Shaw is using England national team camp, staged at United’s Carrington training complex, to recruit Rice; Harry Kane too.
???| JUST IN: #mufc are expected to make an offer for Declan Rice soon. [@ExWHUEmployee] pic.twitter.com/w9f1zVyqIA
— centredevils. (@centredevils) June 22, 2023
All the while United are looking to copy their intra-city rivals by prizing a midfielder from Chelsea. In this case it’s Mason Mount, and some reports indicate that Rice would love to play with Mount at United. We’ll see, when all is said and done the winner of this three-way bidding war might just simply be the club offering the most overall money in the end.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.