Manchester City reportedly entered the race to sign Declan Rice from West Ham, along with Arsenal, but quickly withdrew their interest after their initial offer was rejected by the Hammers. Alongside the transfer fee, the player's positional suitability might have been a factor for Manchester City to reconsider the deal.
Rice is primarily a defensive midfielder, and Manchester City already has one of the world's best players in that position, Rodri. However, Manchester City sees Rice, along with new signing Mateo Kovacic, as versatile players who can cover multiple positions. Such versatility is seen as a necessity at Manchester City and serves as the foundation for the club's success under manager Pep Guardiola.
Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Julian Alvarez, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji, and John Stones are all players who can perform well in various roles. Manchester City is also looking to sign defender Josko Gvardiol from RB Leipzig, who can play in at least two positions, including center-back and left-back. Rice was pursued by Manchester City as a potential replacement for Ilkay Gundogan, indicating that he wasn't solely considered as a defensive midfielder.
Certainly, if Rodri needed a rest, Manchester City could use Rice in that position. However, the European champions believe that the West Ham star can play in any midfield position, similar to Gundogan. While it may not be initially straightforward, Rice has the potential to do so, and Kovacic as well. Kovacic and Rice prefer to carry the ball and move more than Gundogan, who leans towards short passing. Especially, Rice can execute direct passes between the lines.
However, there is one aspect to consider: Rice is more inclined towards a box-to-box midfielder role rather than a controlling one. This raises the question of how Manchester City would control the game with such players. The 2022/23 season showed a perfect balance in Manchester City's style of play. With the successful signing of Erling Haaland, they had a genuine center-forward instead of using a "false 9" as before. This allowed them to approach the opponent's goal without haste. What Guardiola needed was a slower pace to some extent to create space for Haaland.
That's why Pep chose Grealish and Riyad Mahrez (and later Silva) on the wings, alongside Gundogan and Rodri in midfield. They are players who touch the ball a lot, know when to slow down and understand the "pausa" technique that Pep wants to apply. It may not be a perfect solution, but it helped Manchester City control the game while trying to find ways to sync with Haaland in the attack. In simple terms, every player on Manchester City's field coordinates with each other to ensure the team remains focused, patient, and creates opportunities for Kevin De Bruyne and Haaland to thrive at the right moments.
Guardiola only used Foden or Alvarez as attacking midfielders when substituting for De Bruyne. He never deployed them side by side as it would disrupt the balance of the midfield, and thus the team. Without players like Gundogan or Silva compensating for attacking instincts, Manchester City might have attacked too quickly, leaving vast gaps between the lines, making them more susceptible to counterattacks. Therefore, this could be a reason why Manchester City decided to abandon a box-to-box midfielder like Rice. Pep needs a player with control abilities to serve Manchester City's style of play.
Rice can certainly learn, improve himself, and meet Pep's requirements. However, spending around £100 million on a player like him is indeed a risky move, especially when the example of Kalvin Phillips is still there. Guardiola plans to use a 4-center-back formation in the upcoming season instead of signingtraditional full-backs. This means John Stones will play as a midfielder again. It also means that Manchester City will have a solid defense at the back. And if they continue to control the game as they did in the previous season, they will be well-equipped to deal with counterattacks.
Rice is a quality player, but when weighed against various factors, he may not be worth the significant financial investment for Manchester City, especially when Stones is developing a good partnership with Rodri in midfield, and Rice himself is not the controlling midfielder that Gundogan is.
If the price was lower, it might have been a different story, but unfortunately, it seems that this deal would have been too costly. Pep needs a player with control abilities to fit Manchester City's style of play, and Rice, with his box-to-box tendencies, might not have been the ideal fit.
