Rice keen on a move to Reds this summer
WEST HAM MIDFIELDER ASKING PLAYERS ABOUT UNITED
WEST Ham United midfielder Declan Rice is interested in joining United.
M.E.N. Sport understands Rice asked Reds players about the club during the England national team’s World Cup qualifiers last month.
Dean Henderson, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw were with the England squad while Marcus Rashford withdrew after the first qualifier against San Marino.
United’s Jesse Lingard, Rice’s team-mate on loan at West Ham, was also in the squad. It is understood Rice spoke specifically to Maguire and Shaw about aspects of life at Old Trafford.
Senior sources at United have previously talked up Rashford and Lingard’s popularity in the England set-up and the club has historically targeted England players after a summer tournament.
Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick joined the club between 2002 and 2006 after excelling at a World Cup or European Championship, while United made approaches for Alan Shearer in 1996, Owen Hargreaves in 2006 and Harry Maguire in 2018.
The Reds have tracked Rice for more than two years amid their search for a young defensive midfielder. Although a holding midfielder who can also play at centre-back, United scouts believe he could develop into a box-to-box asset.
High-flying West Ham want to sign Lingard permanently but could outprice United for a move for Rice if they secure Champions League qualification for next season. Rice, 22, is contracted to the Hammers until 2024 and David Moyes’s side are fourth in the Premier League but only a point ahead of Chelsea.
Moyes claimed last month Rice is worth ‘far more’ than £100m and the London club’s bargaining position would be strengthened by a potential Champions League windfall. Lingard, 28, has plundered eight goals in nine games since he joined West Ham in January and is out of contract next year. United have to sell certain players if they are to recruit the majority of their summer targets and Lingard has not started for the Reds in the Premier League since January 1 of last year.
United are in the market for a midfielder amid the possibility Paul Pogba could leave in the summer as he approaches the final year of his
West Ham could outprice United for Rice if they secure Champions League qualification
deal. The Frenchman’s agent, Mino Raiola, outlined his intention to move the player to a new club in the summer and was defended over his comments by Pogba on social media.
Despite the attraction of Rice, United have a bloated midfield department with Fred, Scott McTominay, Nemanja Matic and Donny van de Beek in the current first-team squad with Pogba, while James Garner and Andreas Pereira are on loan.
Garner, 20, could head out on loan again next season and Pereira, who has made only five starts for Lazio, still has two years left on his contract.
Frank Lampard lobbied Chelsea to re-sign Rice, who was released by the club as a 14-year-old, before he was sacked in January and United are now the frontrunners to sign the player.
Peculiarly, the Reds have not recruited a senior player directly from West Ham since the infamous transfer of Paul Ince in 1989.
Ince posed for a picture in a United shirt at the West Ham training ground while still under contract at the club and Hammers fans brandished ‘Judas!’ leaflets on his first appearance back at Upton Park in February 1994.
The Reds are also interested in signing a centre-back, a right-back and a striker in the summer, with the club monitoring defenders Raphael Varane and Pau Torres, as well as Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland who is being chased by several top European clubs.