Declan Rice: Renowned Broadcaster Explains how Guardiola Is Helping Arteta with Transfer

• Popular football analyst Eni Aluko came up with an interesting take on the Declan Rice Saga
• She claimed Manchester City were not really interested in the West Ham midfielder
• West Ham recently turned down Manchester City’s first £90m bid for the midfielder after entering the race to sign him

British-Nigerian football broadcaster Eni Aluko recently left fans pondering after coming up with a bizarre theory on why Manchester City have joined the race to sign Declan Rice.

The talented West Ham midfielder is certain to leave the Hammers this summer, with Arsenal and Manchester City involved in a tussle for his services.

On Tuesday, June 27, the Citizens submitted a £90m bid for Rice, an amount that West Ham immediately rejected.

In fact, several reports have suggested West Ham have been left angered by the bid as they feel it was disrespectful on Manchester City’s end.

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While the Citizens will certainly need to revamp their midfield after losing Ilkay Gundogan to Barcelona, Aluko believes Pep Guardiola is not necessarily keen on signing Rice.

“I think there’s a lot of cat and mouse going on here,” She said as quoted on TalkSport.

“I don’t think Manchester City actually want to sign Declan Rice, I think what’s going on is Arteta has picked up the phone to Pep [Guardiola] and said ‘listen, Arsenal are going to do the incremental bid approach, if you put a higher bid in, that will push my owner.”

Aluko was then asked whether this was a tactic to get signings to be done quickly, to which she replied:

“For speed, but to also get the deal done. Because West Ham obviously want a set valuation, I think £120m.”

Despite losing Gundogan. City have all but completed the signing of Matteo Kovacic, who is set to join the club from Chelsea in a £25million deal.

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Before joining Arsenal, Mikel Arteta was Guardiola’s number two at Manchester City and the two oversaw the success of the team for several years.

Guardiola famously got one over his friend last season as Arsenal surrendered an 8-point lead at the top to enable City to set themselves up for a treble triumph.

Players set for summer switch

Sports Brief also reported on a list of big names set to make a move in the summer.

Clubs around the globe will be looking to offer the best deals to these free agents with the hope of eventually getting their signatures on the dotted lines of the contract papers.

The likes of Marco Asensio, Moussa Dembele and David De Gea all face uncertain futures and could make stunning transfers.