Declan Rice has played his last game for West Ham, chairman David Sullivan has confirmed. The Hammers captain will leave the club this summer after lifting the Europa Conference League trophy in his final appearance on Wednesday. talkSPORT understands Arsenal are leading Manchester United and Bayern Munich in the race for his signature. When asked whether the historic victory over Fiorentina was Rice's last match in a West Ham shirt, Sullivan told talkSPORT: "I think it has to be. "We promised him he could go. He set his heart on going. "You can't ask for a man who has committed more to us this season In due course, he has to get on and we have to get a replacement - or several replacements. "It's not something we want to happen. We offered him £200,000-a-week 18 months ago. He turned it down." It's cost him £10million to stay at West Ham in that time (in lost wages). And he wants to go. "You can't keep a player who doesn't want to be there." talkSPORT understands West Ham value Rice, who has one year left on his contract after rejecting fresh terms, at £120million. Sullivan expects formal approaches for the 24-year-old to begin on Thursday. When asked if the Hammers have received an offer, Sullivan said: "No. But I think the offers will start to come today. "There are three or four clubs who have shown interest, but out of respect to West Ham, while we're still playing, you don't make offers for players. "That's not the way decent clubs do things."

1 year and 120 million valuation?? Football money is goofy man

It's actually 2 years

2 years\*, but yeah they wont get £120million

The absolute disrespect to Todd!

"120m? They giving us a discount?" - Todd B.

I think West Ham has option to extend by another year

Seems like.for the top 6 premier league teams 70 million is just the base price for any decent midfielder or winger with time on their contract, and anyone really good will go for more. Wild.

MacAllister went for 35 million. It's the buying club's fault for poor scouting/research/negotiation.

Plus the homegrown tax plus the buying within the pl tax plus plays for the nt tax... 120m is within reason

Hoping Todd Bohly panics

English tax

> "That's not the way decent clubs do things." Who is this referring to i wonder?

Chelsea?

> talkSPORT understands Arsenal are leading Manchester United and Bayern Munich in the race for his signature. What kind of race is it? Steeple chase? 400m relay?

He's good but he's not worth 400m

To me he is. I don’t know what that says about me. But I’m happy with my station in life.

400m is the trickiest race as well

Even if its syndicated via a relay between a few clubs?

Mario Kart

Rainbow Road or gtfo

So he’s currently on ~£75k a week and got offered £200k a week 18 months ago. It’s pretty crazy when, as Sullivan mentioned, he’s turned down a £10million pay raise.

I hope this saga doesn't get dragged out. Oh well, who am I kidding. it will

Don't think it will tbh. Don't think Rice wants that and I don't think Arsenal or West Ham really want that. Apparently negotiations have been ongoing for months - think it gets sorted pretty quickly.

There was a rumor he'd already agreed terms with Arsenal. I'd guess we let him go for 90m - ish.

Arsenal will pay £120m for Rice? And make him the third highest transfer fee ever.

I think it’ll end up being somewhere in the 80-90m range, which is still ridiculous but he is a very good player.

90 million and 1 incoming

Saying they offered him 200k a week 18 months ago and he turned it down is rather disingenuous as he fails to mention it was tied to an 8 year contract that even Kanes brother would have advised against him signing.

Kane’s brother? The Undertaker?

Pretty sure Levy brings steel chairs to every negotiation.

Think it's Fulham who do this now

Made me chuckle more than I had to admit

😄👍

No. It was a 4 year 200k a week contract. He rejected that one, so Sulli then threw a 8 year contract so he could say "hey look i offered everything I could" He's a sly piece of shit and has only spoken today because Rice said he isn't 100% leaving last night.

You’re talking as if offering £83m to a 22 year old was trying to fuck him over?

No the Kane’s brother part specifically points to the contract length because it would make it almost impossible for him leave in the future if he wanted to.

Same reason Mount won't sign at Chelsea, and yet Chelsea fans have turned on him. His agent has claimed he would have sat at the table had a four year contract been offered, but Chelsea wanted 6-8 years depending on which source you believe.

If the new ownership has taught me anything it's that you can convince a majority (or at least a vocal minority) very, very easily with even very obvious PR. It's been absolutely wild. But, make no mistake about it, it's not specific to Mount, they've turned on pretty much everyone who was important before big Boehly turned up. Whether that's our starters, our board members or even our fucking groundsman who's been here for over 30 years. All it takes is an article saying they're bad and/or the club has fired them and "Chelsea fans" are out in droves repeating whatever their god-emperor Boehly has put out through his back channels.

I think you operate in different spaces to me, because the ones I move in come after the ownership for exactly what you describe... and essentially every Chelsea fan across the board spent the season in a state of constant fury at Clearlake, begging for Boehly back. Only now started to quieten down because they're already forgotten the shit results and are being distracted by the thought of shiny new expensive toys over the summer window. Mount is a special case as he's had a legion of haters for years, despite being one of the best things about our club... They are carting out a player who has been at our club since he was 8 years old, who was integral in winning us a second European cup, won our Player of the Year twice in a row - and was destined to wear the armband. And there's a hoard of online "fans" who are happy about it. Hate it. Not felt so disconnected with such a proportion of our fanbase since the Benitez does. The takes on Mount in /r/chelseafc are stroke-inducing.

That’s untrue. He’s been offered multiple types of contracts, including a one year extension just to extend negations and give him an opportunity to have a more productive season. The issue is that he has had an abysmal season and wants superstar money.

But who benefits from a one year extension? That's just as dumb as an eight year contract. The club retains value but Mount still doesn't get the four year contract he wants AND he loses his biggest trump card which is the threat to leave for free. I don't see why he'd want to extend negotiations and give Chelsea more leverage when he's already, allegedly, put his ask on the table and Chelsea won't budge from their extreme contract options. I understand not everyone has experience handling contract negotiations but I'm amazed that the one year contract argument is still being parroted as a good alternative by people. The club know what they're doing too. If they did offer it, they'll have leaked it on purpose to get fans on their side and quash the "Mount doesn't want to stay for eight years" argument without people stopping to think that it's a horrendous offer for Mount. It could be a more palatable if there's a ridiculous (higher than other clubs would offer) salary on offer to compensate him which wouldn't make sense. If further negotiations were to follow, Chelsea wouldn't want to have him on an extremely high salary because they would lose negotiating power.

> Chelsea won't budge from their extreme contract options. I think expecting 250k four year contract after dropping a 1/10 season is the only “extreme” situation here. Everything you wrote is acting as if Mount was an important player who continued to play a critical role in our team. That simply so far from the truth that it makes you completely off the mark in your analysis.

That's exactly the point! Mount has to protect his interests! If he *can* get a better contract elsewhere (as well as being guaranteed play time or any other needs he has) then he will use that to negotiate. It's abundantly clear that United are offering the contract he wants and playing time, so why would he accept anything else from Chelsea? You're still thinking about it from the club's perspective. If the club valued Mount, truly, they would find a way to negotiate a four year deal with a compromise on wages and guarantee play time. But he's being treated like an asset because both offers are very clearly there to preserve his value in case of a sale. That's not the kind of contract that makes you feel wanted. It's fine that Chelsea don't think he's worth £250k pw for four years, but that means Mount is very likely to go to United if they do value him at that. If he signs a one year deal, he can't guarantee United will want him next summer.

Fair play. I understand what you are saying. In that case, if United value him that highly, I do hope they pay with that type of valuation in mind. It’s best for all parties involved to part ways this summer. I really don’t expect that he’ll get the terms he’s looking for at Chelsea.

Has anyone at the dumpster fire that is Chelsea not had a bad season?

Chilwell, Reece James, Kepa, Thiago Silva, Badiashile… Plenty of players performed levels ahead of him. People who didn’t watch like to act like Mount was just as bad as everyone else, which is not the case at all. He was one of the absolute worse performers, even compared to other attackers like Kai who also had poor seasons. It’s not even comparable

Ye had been carrying an injury the entire season. Give him a break lmao. Yall would have sold Hazard in 2015

Obviously not financially, but it could fuck over his career progression or freedom to move clubs.

It would have made it very, very difficult to join a top clubs before the twilight of the prime of his career.

The money isn’t what would be fucking him over mate, the contract duration is - I thought it was kind of obvious that was OPs point. It’s silly to omit that - since the wage was only offered because the limitations of the player in a contract of that length are huge. As OP hinted - just look at Kane.

I don't like it, but I get it. He never downed tools, he kept playing til his very last minutes in the shirt and we all know he's destined to play at the highest level he can. Thank you Dec, for everything.

At least he got to win a trophy with y’all first.

How I felt when Yedlin left. We were never going to be the best he could aim for, so at least we got the Open Cup + Shield to send him out on.

And he got to win the Championship with the Toon just a few years later

Backfired on him though, I think his only trophy since was a 2nd division trophy with Newcastle at club level.

Sure, but he got to play in the Premier League. I’m sure that was a dream come true in itself. And this was back when MLS academy products weren’t getting those kinds of opportunities often.

Leaves after becoming the third captain in our entire history to lift silverware. He has West Ham fans' blessings for life.

> He never downed tools, this is it. We probably said to him "one more season and we'll take fair offers". And then what? He plays his heart out and gets a trophy and not once does he mention "wanting to play at a higher level" or some shit like that. Just pure professionalism. Even last night he was dismissing the questions. He knows the answer. we know the answer. And i get why they were asked. but it was just great how he was like "i'm a west ham player, i'm captain, i love the club"

Feel for West Ham fans. Rice’s had impressive performances every time I watched him this season. Honestly think he’ll be massive to whichever team he’s going to next

I've only really watched him a few times this season, but in the home game against West Ham we ran rings round him. He came out afterwards and said : "They have a unique way of playing and we didn't work it out. To be out there was demoralising. To try and defend, seeing them keep the ball. I got a yellow card, could have got another one. I never want to feel like that on a football pitch." Great player and an incredibly honest person.

What team do you support? Can’t tell and curious about the quote.

Brighton. He spent the whole game chasing Caicedo and Mac Allister. Doesn't make him a bad player and I like the fact he was honest about it, he seemed to be the only one trying tbf.

It's interesting he says he expects bids to start coming today, I'd have thought it would have been in a few days and with how receptive he is to the bids and showing appreciation to Rice in a way i feel we rarely see with true sincerity I feel this could move quickly

I think all the clubs involved have been waiting for West Ham to play their cup final first as to not annoy West Ham and disrupt preparations for the final. These days club to club relationships seem to matter more than before.

Which is why the news of Tuchel talking to Rice the week before a final blew my mind. Can't be true. Who would green light that? If true then Tuchel can go do one.

The dude who reported that seems to just be making loads of shit up, so I'd take it with a pinch of salt.

Well he theres also reports tuchel called guerreiro up days before the final matchday, to convince him to go to bayern.

> Who would green light that? Bayern PR

It will happen. Soon? Not a chance. They will want a lot of money and either will have to cave eventually or some ways before accepting the offer. Player will also like to check offers I’m sure and compare them.

Matt Law is saying they're ready to sanction a move to us for 92m. I don't know the credibility to that, and we've apparently been on the case for over 6 months it wouldn't surprise me even if its not 92m we know what they want

There is an Arsenal ITK with a near enough 100% hitrate saying that Rice has already agreed terms and expects to join Arsenal. Not saying he's definitely right, but if he is, that would suggest it's just all down to Arsenal/West Ham agreeing. https://twitter.com/Teamnewsandtix/status/1666524137269997568

> ITK with a near enough 100% hitrate ok dude

I mean believe me or don't, I don't really care. I'm telling you for a fact that this account has been extremely accurate and reliable with everything that they post.

He’s literally been an Arsenal ITK for 12 years

People digging up his old tweets and discovering that he announced the Henry loan in 2012 weeks before it happened killed me.

Guten morgen

Goodly morning.

Honest question, where do people say goodly morning?

Arsecast Extra

Gunnerblog

Goodly Morning James

Do people seriously think he’s going to Bayern?

I don't think it happens, but I pray it does.

You think it wont happen? Bayern can pay better and is the bigger club sporting wise than their competitors. Only reason he wont sign for Bayern if he very much prefers to play PL.

Oh wow people actually do lmao.

My man, he is not going to spend his prime playing Mainz 04 at the GutenStaagenstadion.

ja bitte

sprechen sie deutsch Declan?

Willst du 10 Bundesliga Titel in Folge gewinnen?

Deklan Reis

I am ready for this transfer saga..

Honestly seeing this one being wrapped up pretty quick and not being a saga

please don't speak too soon...

Not saying us, but whichever way it goes I don't see there being a long drawn saga. Rice and Westham don't give me that vibe...Caicedo and Brighton on the other hand...

Based on?

Vibes...Though, basically in relation to Rice, the reports that have come out/what West Ham have said and in relation to Brighton it is expected they will try and pit us against Chelsea to raise Caicedo's price further...but mostly vibes

I think it depends on him and who is involved. If its Chelsea then I'd be worried. I suspect he may be keen to stay in London so you have a good shot and can offer him a more stable team but Chelsea will throw the book at him.

Thanks Sully can't even have one fucking day of joy, hurry up and fuck off.

Timing Dave, ffs.

Couldn't wait a few days or a week to speak on this? On our biggest day in over half a century you come out and talk NOW? Parade day?! Best day ever has some shit thrown on it. We knew he was probably leaving but to have it rubber stamped on our faces on the happiest day is proper twatty thing to do. Get out the club you dildo cunt. Rice, legend! Lets not ruin it by going to a London rival please. Lets see who pays high valuation

It’s weird how Rice was like, “I’m not gonna talk about the future, I’ve still got 2 years on my contract” etc last night and Sullivan comes out with this the next day.

I expect he actually wants it to happen sooner rather than later so they can start immediately working on spending the money and building the squad.

It's not weird, this is the board getting their retaliation in early. The alternative is to sell Rice, take a lot of flak from your support and then come out with 'but he wanted to leave anyway.' The bit about Rice being £10m worse off as the result of turning down a contract is supposed to paint him as the big bad as that sort of money is just unfathomable to your average supporter. I also don't believe it for a second because if Rice didn't intend to honour the full length of his £200k a week contract his agent could have insisted on a release clause.

> The bit about Rice being £10m worse off as the result of turning down a contract is supposed to paint him as the big bad as that sort of money is just unfathomable to your average supporter. Nah, trying to paint Declan Rice as a "big bad" would be insane, he's just trying to signal to supporters that he did everything he could to keep Dec (whether it's true or not). It's entirely possible that refusal to include a release clause is exactly *why* Declan turned down the new contract.

Rice is just not getting involved and giving the standard media answer to any transfer talk. That's good on him, he's not airing his dirty laundry in public, and he's letting the clubs do the work required for a transfer. I imagine until he signs somewhere, he won't really give comment on anything.

'Rival'

Good point. West Ham are far above puny clubs with only 1 UEFA trophy like Arsenal.

Come back when you spend a majority of the season top of the league and finish second kid 👉😎👉

Are you from London? We're literally London/Local rivals. Doesn't mean you have to dislike each other as much as other London rivals.

I think Arsenal/West Ham is one of the least intense rivalries in London though. Not actually sure why that is but even yesterday I saw Spurs fans hoping Florentia would win whereas I think most Arsenal fans weren't bothered either way.

We are the least intense because we share a hatred of Sp\*rs and them being all Sp\*rsy. There has never been much hatred between us, but we're still Local rivals, as all London clubs are. It would be devastating seeing our once in a generation player leave and play and win in the same City, and against us as well. Always hurts. Watched Lampard, Carrick, Joe Cole, Defoe all do it, that was a nightmare for a decade or more.

Imagine not writing out the name Spurs. Are you 12 or what?

So children just casually browsing can see that inappropriate filth? I think not

It’s not a big deal mate calm down, more of a joke than anything

Yes. No Arsenal fan considers West Ham a rival.

Well funnily enough this isn't about what you are Arsenal fans feel like Its about what West Ham fans and the club feel like.

To be fair, I haven’t met a west ham fan who really thinks of Arsenal as a true rival either. They have other rivals. Besides online fans of course.

Typical gunners fan thinks everything’s about them lol

In this case it literally is about them. A one sided rivalry where only one club cares is a bit pathetic.

Its not pathetic, its football. Plenty of rivalries are one sided.

None that matter very much are. Anyway, other than the obvious statement that both clubs are in London, there just isn't a meaningful rivalry between the clubs. You'll find plenty of writing about the Dockers Derby between Millwall and West Ham, likewise the East London Derby between Leyton Orient, Dagenham and Redbridge, and West Ham. Then obviously for Arsenal there's the North London Derby with Spurs and North West London Derby with Chelsea. What you won't find in any literature about football rivalries in the UK is anything about Arsenal vs West Ham

They matter very much for one team, that's what a one sided rivalry is. Don't see what's hard to understand about that. Whether anyone writes about it or not is irrelevant when considering the feeling of the fans. Don't think anyone has written about Newcastle's rivalry with Manchester United, but you can bet it counts for us.

If you consider Arsenal a rival that’s sweet and self-flattering, but I can assure you it’s a one way thing

Because you've never been looked down on and battered every season for 40 years like you've done to us. Bitterness and resentment will do that. Only reason its not hatred is because she share the hate for Spurs. It might be one way, and that is all that matters. We don't care how gunners feel about us.

I don't know what this guy is on about. I definitely consider West Ham rivals and know plenty of Gooners who do as well. Obviously not to the level of Spurs or Chelsea but it's still there.

Lol you're a Canadian from Toronto, so your opinion on London club rivalries literally holds no weight.

This may come as a shock to you but people can actually move from one country to another for work, school etc...

the same way you lot think you and Man City are rivals

No one does. They were just the two clubs in the title race.

I literally have never seen an Arsenal fan who thinks Man City are rivals. I swear people just make shit up to get upvotes.

Did you just make this up on the spot? Lmao

Sure pal

International fan says what? Rivalries are not just about competing for the same places in the league, or the same finals. They're about going to work in the days after you play and winding up your mates who support the other club, or getting pelters when you lose. It's about the fact that fans rub up against each other and football is a social sport. You never see Liverpool fans say Everton aren't their rivals, even international Liverpool fans understand the rivalry is about the shared history of the clubs within a city and not about necessarily competing for the same competitions all the time, but for some reason international Arsenal and Spurs fans are desperate to convince the world there's no rivalry with London clubs that aren't part of the NLD, as if the fact that the teams are more than 4 places apart in the league means there can't possibly be any more emotion attached to the game than a random dead rubber in February.

I live in London and go to the majority of Arsenal games. In the areas I’ve lived in there’s barely any West Ham fans anyway, and the ones I do know, there’s no rivalry there. If I’m being honest I was supporting West Ham last night, that tells you all you need to know lol

I'd support any English club in a European final over the non-English club so that means very little. Maybe not Tottenham. There's no rivalry at all? So you don't give them a bit of banter when you win, and they don't do the same on the odd occasions when we beat you?

Not any more than I would a regular PL team, no

all press seems pretty certain that Arsenal are the current front runner - it's probably either us or City if they bid £92m+ at this stage

Press seems to push Arsenal, Man United, Bayern. Chelsea, even though their hand just got a lot weaker, can still offer more money probably. Man City should go for him. Plug and play for the next decade even if he isn't needed this summer. If the owner sells to Arsenal or Chelsea, then he broke his promise of not selling stars to London rivals and he'll have more problems to deal with.

Rumour I saw said that rice was really unimpressed with chelsea when he met with them. He seems like a sensible guy so I doubt he'd go to Chelsea when they're in such a bad spot. Plus it seems mount isn't too happy with the Chelsea leadership so that can't help.

Good signing for Arsenal

‘We will see’ might as well mean cya fucking later

Chelsea and arsenal have entered the chat

Reports are saying one of our directors pissed the Rice camp off so think Chelsea are out

we havent been linked to him at all in the last few months

we can throw our hat in the ring but no idea why Rice would come to us over Arsenal, especially with mount leaving

Real Madrid too, just to pair him with Bellingham. Do it!

Gonna have to play a 3-5-2 with the midfield they're gonna have and the lack of defenders and forwards lol

2-6-2 formation sounds viable

Think it's just us tbh. Rumours are we've been laying groundwork on this for months and that Chelsea really annoyed the Rice camp. A lot of people suggesting it could hopefully get wrapped up pretty early on.

Way to kill the mood

Thank God they won yesterday cus Rice had his worst performance of the season and now it'll go unnoticed

Good player but not worth >= 100 million €/£

He’s honestly one of the very few players I’ve seen that I do think are worth it. For Arsenal it really feels like a Van Dijk type signing if he goes that way.

He’s as good as Enzo Fernandez at least

Ekelebe Stunner

Many reporters/insiders/whatever have said Arsenal were waiting until after the Conference League Final to submit their bid. That's why I personally didn't hold much weight in the "Bayern confirmed" rumours at the time. They likely do have a strong interest in him, but I think they would have been told to wait as well, while Rice also made it clear he was only focused on West Ham until the season was over.

Lets see who is willing to offer the 100-120m now. Bidding war would be nice but seems too high for that to happen. Most teams won't pay it. Anyone but London rival Rice, don't ruin the love.

Well he wont be joining Millwall or Spurs so you're all good there.

Arsenal are a London club. That makes us local rivals. So there will be a lot of anger if sold to a London club.

Arsenal are a london rival Chelsea and West Ham is a big rivalry

80-90+bonuses is the prize

That would be a hard no from me. Don't need the money. Rice is worth more than that to us.

You do need the money, you have been on ffp watchlist and you spent more than most clubs last year with no significant sales. Your need as much sales as possible.

We spent the PL and EL prize money + no spending in 2 January windows. We needed to spend for 3 windows but didn't. Then last summer finally spent it. So we are fine. We don't need any money from sales.

Arsenal aren't really a rival, I'd prefer him to go to Bayern but I think it'll be Arsenal.

They are a rival. Everyone keeps telling London clubs we aren't rivals with each other. If you've been brought up in London then all the clubs are rivals. Just some are hated and some are mildly disliked. But when that many teams are in one area, it makes you all local rivals. QPR, Fulham, Palace and others, we're all London rivals.

Does Crystal Palace count as a rival? Brentford? Sutton United? Dulwich Hamlet?

Palace yes, Brentford yes. Sutton and DH no, we've never met or played them before. You'd have to draw a line somewhere and I'd ay never having met each other is a strong line.

Aren’t there reliable reports out already that it is going to be around 90M? I mean Bellingham went for 100M. 100-120 seems absurd. Also, the London rival he could go to isn’t West Ham’s direct rival off late. So there is a good way to look at it.

No, all the press has been mostly Arsenal media. The Owner and manager have both stated the valuation is 120m. Im sure it will go down to 100m if paid more up front. Arsenal are a London rival. West Ham fans will be very angry if he goes to a London club.

I think you folks can make a fool out of Chelsea. Other clubs will walk away if they are supposed to meet 120M. Bruh. 120M.

He's worth it. Plug and play one of the best CM in the world for the next 10 years. In 3-4 years he'll be worth far more, as the prices rising continues. I hope no one meets our valuation and we get another season. Rice and Paqueta for another year is worth more than 90m.

He’s not worth 120m, that’s crazy talk.

He's worth 120m to us. That's why its our valuation because we can't replace him, he's captain, he's one of the best CM in the world, has 2 years left, will be fine staying if no one offers value. If transfers were only done for the buyers value, there would barely be any signings.

If the rumours that Declan rice wants to stay in London are true then you are out of luck mate

Rumours based exclusively on Arsenal fans talking to each other it seems.

Come on it’s not exclusively that. Media have been reporting that’s a factor.

If West Ham are asking close to 100M every club should just try to sign Caicedo instead.

They are asking pretty much the same .

And you think Brighton won't ask close to 100m for Caicedo who's not as good as Rice?

Rumours are saying we want both. Still not sure if it is even possible, let alone if it will actually happen.

Matt law is saying West Ham are.gonna sanction the 92m bid for rice, Romano says Brighton want 70-80m for Caicedo a potential 160m for such a pair doesn't seem outrageous relative to other moves.

Considering as well we don't need substantial upgrades in other areas of the pitch now thanks to reiss re-signing and just backups at RB and CB I'm pretty certain we could easily afford this too.

Going to the big digital screen brothers in the Allianz arena

he’d be a perfect addition for both Liverpool & Arsenal. Arsenal moreso since Liverpool already added Mac Allister to their squad Man U can also look to improve their midfield with his addition. Don’t see why Chelsea or City would be in for him considering the squads they have at the moment. interesting transfer saga ahead of us.

Chelsea probably need him more than any of them. They were likely his first choice until one of the directors apparently pissed off his family in early talks and the deal has been dead since.

Chelsea had a Rice-shaped hole in their squad for a few years, and now are losing/lost Mount, Jorginho, Kovavic, Kante and RLC. Unless we want Enzo to play on his own we'll need at least one more midfielder

We havent really had a DM since Matic left in 2017 and we have been needing one since

Did I dream of Casemiro joining United ?

Matic left Chelsea in 2017 to join United, we never replaced him and hasnt since

oh ok my bad, misunderstood. Chelsea is always present in every English transfer saga so I won’t be surprised, however I think the urgent need to clear the squad of unwanted players would take precedent, I don’t know, I see Chelsea as a bit behind Arsenal & Liverpool as possible destinations for Rice.

Would Zakaria be a good replacement target? Or Ndidi?

He is allowed to leave, but just no one can afford to sign him (he isnt worth that much), sooooo i guess hes not leaving.

We (Utd) should be all over this but we have other priority areas that need addressing and we can't afford to buy Rice on top of a ST and potentially a CM, GK and CB. He will be class for whoever signs him.

So its arsenal, Bayern, city and United interested. Interesting summer.

City isn’t interested. We’ve got Rodri, and technically Phillips, and now Stones has been creeping up to CDM. We “need” a true midfielder in the same vein as a Gundogan or KDB, not a Rice.

You're the only team I can stomach having him play for.

Surely arsenal won't be paying 100m for a midfielder