Arsenal to battle Man Utd and Chelsea for £60m West Ham midfielder Declan Rice – Paper Round

Arsenal to battle for Rice

Arsenal are pushing hard for Moises Caicedo after making a bid of £60 million for the 21-year-old, but the Mirror believes that this will not have any effect on their plans to sign West Ham’s midfielder Declan Rice.

Rice shows no sign of agreeing a new deal with West Ham, which might see even a bidding war with top teams depressing his asking price well below the £100m that has previously been mentioned.

“Mirror Football understands that even if Caicedo is signed, the Gunners won’t halt plans to sign Rice. But like the Brighton star, there will be a scramble for his signature with Chelsea and Manchester United also monitoring the situation.

“West Ham boss David Moyes had previously declared his talisman was worth more than £100million, but it’s now believed he could be available for closer to £60million.”

Leeds want to keep Harrison

However Leeds’ boss Jesse Marsch is hopeful of keeping the player, though the consequences of him staying for the rest of the season could see the club lose him for nothing, or much less, in the coming months.

The paper claims: ”Leicester City have made an enquiry to Leeds about Harrison, with the 26-year-old also the subject of offers from Champions League chasing Newcastle United.

“Harrison finds himself in a tricky situation with just 18 months left on his contract at Elland Road and other clubs vying for his signature.

“Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers is keen to land the Englishman for a cut-price fee but faces an uphill task to land his target with Leeds unwilling to negotiate any fee under £35m.”

Guendouzi chased by two Premier League clubs

Marseille midfielder Matteo Guendouzi is a target for Aston Villa as the January transfer window deadline closes in, but the Sun believes that there is another team in the running for his signature, too.

West Ham are struggling this year under David Moyes, and he has been given the cash to bring in Danny Ings, and he is also keen on the former Arsenal player who impressed in Ligue 1 and the World Cup in recent months.

“He has been called up to the France national team and featured in the side’s recent World Cup run.

“Guendouzi is viewed as Aston Villa’s “priority signing” as Unai Emery looks to make his mark.

“However West Ham’s interest comes after the recent poor form from Tomas Soucek and Lucas Paqueta.”

City determined to keep Guardiola

The paper writes: “Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano has clarified his coach’s comments, pointing out that Guardiola said he’d only consider that step up if he were an assistant coach.

“That makes more sense because he was discussing the logic behind Mikel Arteta leaving the Manchester City assistant’s job to return and take full charge of Arsenal.”