West Ham United transfer news as Manchester City bid for Declan Rice rejected

Manchester City have had a £90m bid for Declan Rice rejected by West Ham United, according to The Telegraph journalist Jason Burt.

The race to sign the England international, who looks set to leave the London Stadium this summer, is heating up after Arsenal saw two bids rejected for Rice’s services, and Manchester City reportedly emerged as favourites in the race [Di Marzio, 22 June].

The 22/23 treble winners tabled an offer of £80million guaranteed with £10million more in add-ons late Monday night (Sky Sports, 26 June), making it the best so far after Arsenal’s second reached the same total but with £75million guaranteed.

However, in a tweet posted by Burt [27 June], the Hammers have formally rejected Manchester City’s bid potentially giving Arsenal a free run at their top target.

Burt tweeted: “West Ham have formally rejected Man City’s £90m offer for Declan Rice.”

Arsenal chance

With the Rice transfer saga hotting up, West Ham United have certainly got their wish in entertaining a bidding war for their star man this summer.

After Arsenal appeared the clear favourites to sign him having seen two bids rejected for the midfielder, Manchester City have been handed plenty of encouragement to swoop and still a march on his signature.

However, with their £90m structured bid for the midfielder rejected, it certainly swings the tide back in Arsenal’s favour now and the Gunners will have to cough up the £100m cash if they want to get this done swiftly and without any intervention from City once again.

What’s guaranteed is that the Hammers will get the best out of the deal, regardless of whether Rice joins City or Arsenal and the Irons are absolutely right to want to bring a swift end to the saga, given that they have a huge task ahead in replacing Rice as well as securing moves for their own top targets before preseason.

Whatever happens, West Ham United simply cannot afford to waste time entertaining a long-running auction for their star man. They’ve got themselves to think about too.