Former West Ham winger Matt Jarvis believes Manchester City could also join the race to sign Declan Rice.
Last week, Sky Sports revealed that Chelsea are interested in making a summer move for the defensive midfielder, who has been the standout performer for the Hammers this term.
Rice has played every single minute of Premier League action this season, showing his importance to the team (Transfermarkt).
When speaking on talkSPORT, Jarvis said:
It’s going to be a difficult decision for Rice to make because both the Manchester clubs may be interested in him.
At the minute he’s playing week in, week out, and Gareth Southgate will want to be able to see him playing every week.
READ WEST HAM VERDICT
United have clearly been interested in Rice over the last couple of transfer windows but would Rice even suit City?
We feel that there would be too much competition for a starting role at the Etihad, leaving Rice with less game time.
Last summer, City were reported to be looking at Rice as a potential replacement for Fernandinho, but after the Brazilian signed a new one-year deal, we feel that could be unlikely now.
Pep Guardiola already has Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan and Fernandinho who can play in the holding midfield role, so adding Rice to that could only cause more problems for his team selection.
Therefore, we feel that if Manchester City made an approach for the Englishman then he should turn it down because there is no guarantee that he will be starting every match, whereas, at West Ham, he has that assurance.
