‘Joker in the pack’: West Ham absolutely love Man City player, could be used in swap deal for Rice – journalist

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Arsenal’s grip on the race to sign Declan Rice appears to be loosening.

Mikel Arteta and The Gunners have had the West Ham midfielder at the top of their list of transfer targets for quite some time now, but over the past 24 hours, rumours regarding Manchester City have really started to emerge.

The Athletic reported that City are ready to make their own approach for Rice, and now, speaking on the Chasing Green Arrows YouTube channel, Graeme Bailey has claimed that City may have a trump card in this race in the shape of Kalvin Phillips.

Indeed, Bailey suggested that a move to West Ham for Phillips could help City get this Rice deal done, claiming that everyone at West Ham adores Phillips.

City’s trump card

Bailey shared his verdict on this potential swap deal.

“City have got, not a trump card, but they’ve got that Kalvin Phillips card to play. We know West Ham love Kalvin Phillips, they tried to sign him last summer. He’s an ideal player to come in and bolster that West Ham midfield, we know Moyes likes him, we know Sullivan likes him. So that’s, not a trump card but a real joker in the pack that City could use to help with this Rice deal,” Bailey said.

Two birds one stone

It’s not hard to see why this sort of deal would appeal to West Ham.

Not only would the Hammers be getting decent money for Rice, they’d be getting his replacement at the same time.

Finding a quality defensive midfielder isn’t easy, but Phillips certainly fits that bill, and while he may not be up to Rice’s standard, he’s not too far off when he’s at his best.

This could be a real spanner in the works for Arsenal in their pursuit of this player.