Declan Rice deemed ‘perfect’ for Bayern as Tuchel ‘100% involved’ in race to beat Arsenal to transfer

Arsenal face more competition for top midfield target Declan Rice as Bayern Munich join Manchester United in the race for the 24-year-old, with Thomas Tuchel ‘100% involved’ in attempting to lure the West Ham star to the Allianz Arena this summer.

Widespread reports claim Arsenal are leading the charge for Rice and it’s been claimed they’re preparing a ‘structured £90m offer’ for the England international.

West Ham – who hold an option to extend his contract by another year when it expires at the end of June 2024 – ‘want considerably more and believe Manchester United will offer it’ but ‘Arsenal hope Rice wants to stay in London’.

But he may not even stay in England, with Florian Plettenburg claiming Bayern Munich are in the race.

The Sky Sports journalist reports that Thomas Tuchel is very interested in Rice and the Bundesliga side are ‘also convinced that he’s the perfect defensive midfielder’.

Plettenburg tweeted: ‘News #Rice: He‘s one of the desired players of #Tuchel confirmed. Bayern bosses are also convinced that he’s the perfect defensive midfielder for Bayern.

‘There were talks with the players management Tuchel is 100 % involved. But: Bayern is aware of the fact that @Arsenal
is pushing for him. His price: Around £70m. Very difficult transfer target.’

He could replace Joshua Kimmich, who’s said to be keen on a move to Barcelona, but has also been linked with a move to the Premier League.

Marca claims that the Bayern Munich man ‘would be delighted to arrive at the Camp Nou’ in the summer.

However, the ‘problem’ that Barcelona have is that ‘he is a very expensive player’ and has two years left on his contract in Bavaria.

It is likely to prove ‘very difficult’ to sign Kimmich ‘under these conditions’ and Bayern will ‘not going to give him away’ with his price tag unlikely to ‘drop below €60m’.

Arsenal and Liverpool ‘are also interested’ in the Germany international and ‘so much competition is another obstacle for Barcelona’.

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