Journalist Dean Jones has suggested that Manchester City and Pep Guardiola could lure Declan Rice away from joining Arsenal and moving to the Etihad Stadium instead this summer.
After seeing Arsenal have two bids rejected for the West Ham United midfielder in recent days, it has now been reported that the Citizens are readying their own bid to sign him.
This has since led to one journalist assessing the situation and making a claim about how the European champions can snatch Rice away from Arsenal.
Jones says Rice could be swayed by City bid
Speaking in a recent video on The Football Terrace YouTube channel, Jones said this about City’s interest in Rice.
He said: “This would be a disaster for Arsenal if Declan Rice didn’t sign for them.
“He was happy to commit to them but now you have the treble winners and Guardiola knocking on the door.
“The way it was put to me was that ‘yes, Declan Rice likes Arsenal, ideally he’d stay in London, but if he has assurances that Pep Guardiola will stay in charge of that team for the next couple of years that could change his mind.’
“That’s now something to consider because Guardiola has given assurances recently that he will be seeing out his contract, and if you’re Rice that’s a hard thing to ignore.”
With the east London club apparently wanting north of £100m for their captain, which is what City paid Aston Villa to sign Jack Grealish back in 2021, it’s safe to say that if the club are looking to sign Rice, it would take a significant investment from them.
Having already caught the attention of Guardiola, who described the England international as an “exceptional” player, this makes it easy to see why the club have joined Arsenal in the race to sign him.
Also, with Ilkay Gundogan reportedly close to joining Barcelona as a free agent, this could pave the way for Rice to take his place in the squad.
Moving forward, taking into account what Jones has said, if Guardiola were to potentially get in touch with the Hammers star and convince him to join City over Arsenal, the pressure would then be on the club to negotiate a suitable deal with West Ham and bring this particular saga to an end.
