Manchester City are ready to formalise their long-standing interest in West Ham captain Declan Rice with a bid, 90min understands.
The seven-time Premier League winners have known for a long time that they may need to overhaul their midfield this summer, with the futures of Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Kalvin Phillips subject of intense speculation for a number of months.
Captain Gundogan, who played a starring role as City won the treble last season, has come to the end of his contract at the Etihad Stadium and has opted to join Barcelona on a free transfer rather than renewing his deal in Manchester, while Silva has told the first-time Champions League winners that he'd like to move on amid interest from Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.
Phillips has not been a regular starter following his £42m move from Leeds and has actually been linked with a move to West Ham - potentially to replace Rice, who looks destined to move on this summer with just two years remaining on his contract.
Arsenal have been leading the chase to sign Rice, submitting two bids to West Ham, and his preference is to remain in London. But they have been unable to agree a fee as the Hammers stand firm in their valuation and majority owner David Sullivan is adamant that he will not compromise on price - he is seeking a deal worth at least £100m plus add-ons.
Sources have confirmed to 90min that City are now ready to act and have intimated to West Ham that a bid is forthcoming. Pep Guardiola's side certainly have the financial muscle to meet Rice's asking price, though there could be discussions about including Phillips in the deal despite his preference to stay and fight for his place.
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Indeed, West Ham's interest in Phillips dates back to his time at Leeds United, with the club making an unsuccessful bid of £50m in the 2022 January transfer window. Fulham's Joao Palhinha is another player of interest to the Europa Conference League-winning Hammers as they look for Rice alternatives, though their valuation of the Portuguese international may make a deal difficult to do.
City are close to the completing of signing Mateo Kovacic from Premier League rivals Chelsea, but 90min understands that they do want to sign another midfielder on top. Bayern Munich's Joshua Kimmich is strongly admired but Rice is viewed as a far more realistic signing this summer as the Bundesliga giants do not to want to sell.
Arsenal are expected to return with a third, vastly improved offer for Rice, while West Ham hope that a bidding war involving Manchester United will extract maximum value for the 24-year-old. The Red Devils also want to sign a central midfielder and know that West Ham have interest in Scott McTominay, who has recently starred for Scotland on international duty.
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On this week's edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Toby Cudworth is joined by Graeme Bailey and Sean Walsh to discuss the latest transfer news. On the agenda is Arsenal's approach for Jurrien Timber, Kai Havertz and Declan Rice, the exodus of Chelsea players to Saudi Arabia, Moises Caicedo, Kyle Walker, Man Utd's goalkeeper plans & more!
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This article was originally published on 90min as Manchester City to rival Arsenal with bid for Declan Rice.