West Ham United’s Declan Rice has emerged as Bayern Munich’s hottest transfer target in addition to trying to sign a top caliber striker. Thomas Tuchel is a big fan of the West Ham captain and England international, having had plenty of experience playing against him during his tenure as Chelsea manager. He could cost Bayern upwards of 100-million euros as his contract is set to expire next summer.
Without an extension in place, this would be the last summer window that West Ham could offload Rice for a considerable fee that they could use to reinvest in the squad. A transfer fee in excess of 100-million is not very Bayern-like, per se, but Tuchel and the board are sold on him being an excellent fit for the midfield in the number 6 role that Tuchel wants to fill.
Former Bayern and Germany midfielder Lothar Matthäus is also a fan of Bayern potentially signing Rice this summer. While they are already getting Konrad Laimer from RB Leipzig, they still need a strong, physical, and commanding number 6 midfielder, which Rice perfectly fits the billing for.
“Thomas Tuchel has apparently indicated he would like to have a different type of player, a successor to Javi Martínez: strong in the air, strong in tackles, robust, a bit different from Kimmich. They are looking for a more aggressive leader. Rice has a lot of experience, he’s not the captain of West Ham United and an England international for nothing,” Matthäus enthused, as per az’s Maximilliam Koch (via @iMiaSanMia).
Bayern has also been linked with Juventus’ Adrien Rabiot, Fulham’s Joao Palhiniha, Leicester City’s Youri Tielemans, but Rice is the main target for this summer in addition to a striker, and now that both Lucas Hernandez and Benjamin Pavard look set to leave the club, a replacement defender, too.
The club’s supervisory board would have to approve a transfer for Rice since his price is so significant, but both Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness are fans of his in addition to Tuchel. Rummenigge has also recently made it clear that, when it comes to transfer right now, it will primarily be himself, Tuchel, new CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen, and Hoeness that will be having the discussions while there is no sporting director in the wake of Hasan Salihamidzic being sacked.