Man City frighten Arsenal as Ornstein confirms superior official bid is in for top midfield target

Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola

Manchester City have made an official offer to West Ham United in an attempt to sign Declan Rice, it has been revealed.

Rice is expected to leave West Ham this summer after lifting the Europa Conference League trophy as their captain. Only one year remains on his contract, unless his employers were to activate an option to extend it into 2025.

But David Sullivan has admitted he expects Rice to have already played his last game for West Ham. Therefore, a bidding war has been expected between Arsenal and Man City.

Arsenal have already failed with a couple of bids to take Rice across London. The Premier League runners up have identified him as an ideal midfield reinforcement in case they offload Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka.

But West Ham have been hoping all along that Man City would get involved too – and their wish has now come true.

As initially reported by David Ornstein on The Athletic and confirmed by other sources, Man City have put a £90m package on the table. Their bid consists of an up-front £80m payment and £10m in add-ons.

In contrast, the last bid Arsenal saw rejected was also worth £90m, but from a smaller starting fee of £75m. The Gunners are still working on their own next step for Rice, Ornstein added.

Perhaps Man City think the guarantee of £5m more in immediate payment to West Ham might be the key to unlocking a deal for Rice. That said, West Ham have been holding out all along for a nine-figure fee if they can achieve one.

The lack of time remaining on his contract complicates negotiations somewhat, though. Now, it is over to the Hammers to answer Man City’s bid.

Man City replenishing midfield

The treble winners are in the market for new midfielders after their own captain, Ilkay Gundogan, completed a move to Barcelona on a free transfer at the end of his contract.

Man City have also agreed a fee with Chelsea to sign Mateo Kovacic, but do not want to miss out on the opportunity to add Rice to their midfield department either.

The 24-year-old has spent his entire senior career with West Ham since making his debut in 2017. He has made a total of 245 appearances for the club, including 50 apiece in each of the past two seasons.

Rice was named the West Ham player of the year for 2021-22 and 2022-23, having first won that accolade in 2019-20.

He also earned the honour of being the Europa Conference League player of the season thanks to his role in winning the first trophy of his career.

If he moves to Man City, Rice would have every chance of adding significantly to his medal collection. Next season, the Citizens will be defending the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League titles.

Recently, ex-England goalkeeper David James – who made his own move from West Ham to Man City in 2004 – advised Rice to pick Pep Guardiola’s side over Mikel Arteta’s.

“Why would he want to play for Arsenal? One team are the European, FA Cup and Premier League champions – the other is neither, or none,” he told Sky Sports.

James added: “Declan is top-drawer and City are the best team in Europe – and are probably going to be the best team in the world in few months if they win the Club World Cup.

“If Declan Rice is part of that it’s because he deserves to be, so all the best to him if it happens.”

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