According to a report by The Athletic, Manchester United will explore the prospect of bringing Declan Rice to Old Trafford in a part-exchange deal involving Jesse Lingard.
This of course gives West Ham a route to signing Lingard on a permanent, something that seemed unlikely at one point due to the fact United reportedly want £40m for his services.
However, this part-exchange deal for Rice does open up an avenue for the Hammers to explore, but it may be a deal that simply doesn’t work for them.
Now, we all know how good Lingard has been for West Ham, that’s simply undeniable. However, is it worth giving up Rice to land him permanently?
With all due respect to Lingard, he’s a patchy player, and we’ve only actually seen him play eight Premier League games for West Ham, so while he’s the talk of the town at the moment, that could quickly change, as it has done many times in the past.
Lingard has been known to have peaks and troughs in his career, as shown by his lack of minutes at United before joining West Ham, and his staggered England career.
Meanwhile, Rice has consistently been one of the Hammers’ best players, and with David Moyes valuing him at over £100m, this deal will surely only work if United also offer a hefty cash sum alongside Lingard.
West Ham will certainly want to sign Lingard in the summer, but if it means losing Rice, this is an avenue they may not want to explore.
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