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Manchester United and Manchester City are poised to make a move for West Ham skipper Declan Rice this week, according to ExWHUemployee.
Arsenal are said to be the Premier League club at the front of the queue for his signature, while Bayern Munich are also willing to pay around £85m to get a deal done.
But with the end of the season coming this week with the Europa Conference League and Champions League finals, Ex is expecting both Manchester clubs to enter the race for his signature with a stay in England seen as his preference.
“Whilst both Arsenal and Munich are said to lead the way with progress in the deal neither have had a bid accepted yet and both Manchester clubs are poised to make a move,” he wrote on his Patreon (4 June).
“Manchester United wanted to get their cup final against City out the way first and Manchester City still have the “small matter” of a Champions League Final to contend with next Saturday.
“Once the game against Inter Milan has been concluded then they may well make their move too.
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“It is also thought that Rice prefers to remain in England rather than play his trade abroad.”
Bidding war
There is plenty of expectation that Rice will be leaving this summer, but West Ham have set their price and there is no pressure to sell for anything less.
The best way to get to that price is if there are several interested parties and they all start bidding to drive the price up, because he is that good a player that teams will do that.
With the Europa Conference League final set for Wednesday everyone at the club should have their full focus on the game and not transfers, but straight after that the window should be the priority.
City like to work quickly, so after their final on the Saturday after (10 June) things could step up quickly, while Man United are likely to move efficiently in this window to get their business done.