Jamal Musiala lauds Declan Rice despite West Ham skipper snubbing Bayern Munich

Thomas Tuchel’s top transfer target for Bayern Munich this summer was Declan Rice, but it is unfortunately looking like the West Ham skipper is getting set to join Arsenal, as he wants to stay in London and the Premier League.

A prominent player making the move from the Premier League to the Bundesliga is rather rare, and it’s often times the other way around in the transfer market, much like Erling Haaland moving from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester City. That’s not to say that’s it’s strictly down to an overall lack of external appreciation or recognition of German football, but a lot of England-based players show a preference to staying in country, especially if they’re English. Rice would be no exception to that.

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Jamal Musiala can sympathize with Rice wanting to stay with his family in London, as he also lived in England for quite some time when he was younger, and even grew up in the same area as the West Ham skipper. It was Hasan Salihamidzic that sold him on the Bayern package when he agreed to sign from Chelsea’s youth teams and he also played a part in Musiala choosing to represent Germany internationally instead of England since he had dual citizenship.

There’s certainly no bad blood between Musiala and Rice, despite the latter reportedly choosing to join Arsenal instead of Bayern Munich. “Declan is a great player. I’ve known him since he was very young before he went to West Ham. We played together in the park. I think I was 11-12 at the time. We grew up in the same area. He’s a great player,” Musiala told Sport Bild (via @iMiaSanMia).

The Bayern starlet also feels that the club is, in fact, attractive enough to players in the Premier League even though there’s a quite considerable financial gap between the English top flight and the Bundesliga. That’s certainly part of the reason why the Premier League to Bundesliga transfer map is rare, but Musiala feels that players realize how good of a club Bayern is. “I think every player would consider an offer from FC Bayern. No matter which top player it is. FC Bayern is a very attractive club,” he insisted.

Sadio Mane, Musiala, and Leroy Sane are the last three players to join Bayern from the Premier League since Pepe Reina back in 2014, though you could technically add Joao Cancelo’s loan spell this season in there. Before Reina, Jerome Boateng was the most recent player to make the Premier League to Bundesliga switch when he joined from Manchester City in 2011.